


Happily Ever After

by Bellatrix_Wannabe_89, Enixam1994



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Next Generation, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-06-17 21:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 58,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15470592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellatrix_Wannabe_89/pseuds/Bellatrix_Wannabe_89, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enixam1994/pseuds/Enixam1994
Summary: The last battle was won. The final curse was broken. Alice and Robyn could finally get on with their happy ending. But when an evil sorceress casts a new curse that takes away their memories and separates all the families it'll be up to a new generation of heroes to stop her. Curious Archer





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a next gen fic that me and Curious Archer on FF.Net & Enixam1994 on here are co-writing together. We really hope you all love it and review it and adore everything about it.

The pounding rain and roaring winds whipped the young archer in the face. Her hair flying behind her as she hurried her horse on, kicking the brown stallion as hard as she could, urging it on, begging it to go faster. Later she would apologise to the beautiful steed for any pain she caused, but for now she couldn't spare a moment to worry about it. There was too much at stake to worry about anything but what was right in front of her.

"Yah!" Robyn Hood cried. She kicked him again as he galloped through the woods. The branches from the low hanging trees slapped the woman's arms and shoulders but the sting was nothing compared to the heavy ache in her heart.

She was close. So close.

"Come on, come on!" Robyn yelled, each cry getting louder until she was screaming. But even then the crash of thunder drowned out her words completely along with the pounding of the horses hoofs against the soft, wet ground under them.

There. In the distance. Her keen eyes she had inherited from her father spotted the figure laying on the wet grass, just where the spell her mother had cast said she would be.

She was dressed in a beautiful dark red gown, Robyn's favorite color on her, with her beautiful wild blonde curls fanned out around her head. As always, she was stunning...

And she also wasn't moving.

"Alice!" Robyn cried out as her horse finished the last of his sprint towards the blonde. As soon as she was close enough, she yanked on the reins, pulling the faithful animal to a stop before she jumped off the horse's back and ran over to her beloved. She skidded slightly as she dropped to her side, not caring about the dirt and muck that stained her already brown hunting trousers. Pulling Alice into her arms, she began cradling her close.

"Come on, Alice," Robyn begged, holding onto her. She gently shook her, as if rising her from an evening nap, but Alice remained motionless as ever. "Alice, please wake up!" The archer let out a sob as her fiancée laid still in her hold. "Baby, please don't leave me now!"

Her pleas did nothing. Her begging did nothing. Her tears did nothing.

Alice was dead. Her tower girl was gone.

Robyn let out a sob as she cradled her closer, pulling her body up so she could press her face into Alice's smooth blonde hair. Even dead, she still had a beautiful lingering sweet smell that had always made Robyn weak in the knees and had she not been as cold as the rain still falling around them, Robyn might have held some spark of hope. But she was cold. She was gone...

The witch had finally won.

The Sorceress finally had her revenge…

"I'm sorry… Alice, I'm so sorry," she cried as she held her tighter. "I should have been here, I should have protected you. You shouldn't have been alone…"

Robyn stayed like that for a long while, the rain soaking her to the bone while the crashes of lightning and the roaring of thunder erupted all around them. The weather matched her mood perfectly, almost like it had been done on purpose. Then again, it could have been the happiest, sunniest day in history and Robyn would have still felt like she was sitting in the middle of the apocalypse.

Finally the archer pulled away and gently laid the blonde back down on the ground in front of her. She stroked Alice's soft hair, one last time as she gazed down at her beautiful face. So serene and at peace. A fresh wave of sobs built up but Robyn fought them back, her remaining tears indistinguishable from the drops of rain still coating them both.

"I love you, Tower Girl," Robyn whispered softly before she leaned down and pressed her lips against hers, one last time.

A bright flash of light erupted from their touch and spread out throughout the realm, warming them and every creature it touched. At the exact same time, either by magic or by coincidence, the rainfall stopped and the sun broke through one of the lingering stormy clouds overhead, shining down on top of them.

Alice gasped a deep breath as her eyes flew open. Immediately, the blue orbs found her archer still hovering over her. Robyn was momentarily frozen, caught between surprise and a slight sudden fear that she had somehow fallen asleep and this moment was nothing but a dream.

Alice's face broke into a gentle smile. "I love you too, Nobin."

At those simple words, Robyn erupted in tears of joy as she leaned down and kissed her adventurer again, burying her hand in her soaked curls in order to pull her closer. The two lovers wrapped their arms around another, each of them knowing that they had finally found their happily ever after.

—-

**Three Months Later**

"I do."

Robyn smiled at the blonde standing in front of her. She gently reached up and wiped away the happy tears that had fallen down the adventurers face, leaving twin trails that didn't disturb her beauty in the slightest.

They were standing in a wide open ballroom, decorated to extraordinary levels. Every which way they looked there were hanging lights and bright coloured strips of confetti paper dangling from the ceiling and walls. They were surrounded, not just by pretty materials, but also by their friends and family, all of whom had come to celebrate and share in the love of the two women.

Robyn was dressed in a modern ensemble she had gotten from one of the dressmakers in Storybrooke. A spaghetti strap dress that came a few inches below her knees with ivy and flower embellishments. Her father's warm woolen cloak was wrapped securely around her and she had forgone a veil for her mother's floppy brimmed hat, both magically dyed the same color white as her dress.

Alice, meanwhile, had gone for a traditional gown, with a tight plain white corset and a bell style skirt. It also had long draping sleeves with her curls pinned under a simple veil that seemed to shine almost as much as the little spark of happiness in her damp eyes. She wore a single piece of jewelry, a simple silver chain with a starfish charm on it.

Roland stood besides Robyn, across from where Lucy was holding a small basket of flowers in front of her. Robyn's older half brother had a proud look on his tanned face, and was dressed handsomely in a forest green doublet with white peasant sleeves and brown leather trousers.

"And do you," Archie continued. "Robyn Emerald Hood take Alice Leah Jones to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do," Robyn announced, loudly, almost as much to the church as she did to her bride. She laughed softly at the gleeful look that had overtaken Alice's face at the sound of those two simple words.

"Then, by the power vested in me by the Gods of this Realm and the laws of man, I now pronounce you Wife and Wife. You may kiss the bride."

The two women leaned in before he had even fully finished his last sentence. Their lips half an inch apart, both of them ready to seal their love while everyone else brought their hands up, ready to begin a roar of approving applause in their honour.

BANG!

The entire church gasped in surprise as they turned to where the noise had came from, including the two brides. Alice whimpered fearfully as she clung to the archer who's happy expression was replaced with a sharp glare at the woman who had interrupted the ceremony. Instantly, she wrapped her arms protectively around the curly haired blonde and pulled her close as the doors came to a quivering stop against the walls behind them.

"Sorry I'm late."

The witch strode in the church and made her way quickly down the aisle, almost gliding instead of walking. Two guards immediately raced towards the woman who didn't even attempt to pause her stride. Instead she merely sent them flying with a quick flick of her wrists.

Zelena ran out from her spot amongst the crowd, a green fireball at the ready while Alice's father rushed along at her side. There was a sharp slicing sound as he pulled his sword from its scabbard that rest against his hip and held it threateningly in front of him.

"If you touch my daughter or her bride, I will make you BLEED!" The red headed woman snarled dangerously.

"You're not hurting either of them ever again!" The man formerly known as Detective Rogers yelled.

The woman finally paused her advance, but then just smirked at the two parents for a brief second before she waved her hand at them again. With barely a real thought about it, she sent them flying across the church and over the heads of the other guests, crashing painfully into the wall.

Alice cried out for her Papa while Robyn didn't even blink. Her mother would be fine, but she still had to protect Alice.

"It's the Sorceress!" One of the dwarves cried out. "Run!"

Robyn relinquished her gallant hold on Alice and quickly snatched up her bow from where it rest against the side of the podium they stood on, and at the same time plucked one of her arrows from the quiver next to it. She had brought the weapon just for this occasion, knowing it would happen even while she hoped to be proven wrong. Pushing Alice behind her for safety, she took aim. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her brother do the same.

"She's not a Sorceress!" Robyn barked as she took aim at the smug dark leather clad woman who feared neither the archer nor the weapon she pointed at her. "She's nothing. Not any more. Now she's just an evil witch!"

"Love, don't!" Alice begged from behind her.

Robyn hesitated before slowly lowering the bow. "You already lost. True love's kiss woke Alice up. You will not ruin this day or any other days for us or anyone else."

"Oh I didn't come to ruin anything," the woman said with a playful smirk. "On the contrary, Hood… I've come to give you and your new bride a gift."

"There is nothing in this world that you could have that we would want!" Robyn snapped.

"But you shall have it!"

In the frightened crowd of spectators a blonde woman and a dark haired man raced to the front of the crowd, both of them watching with wide eyed and broken hearts as the woman who had terrified every last soul in attendance walked in a circle in the middle of the room. Her face, once so innocent and pure, now looked almost disgusted at the displays of love in front of her.

Black haired bespectacled Neal Nolan and his dark green eyed wife Alexandra held each other from the side as they looked in terror at the woman they had once known so well. Now, it felt like they were looking at a stranger.

"My gift to you," the witch announced. "Is this happy… happy day… for tomorrow my real work begins."

"Couldn't even come up with your own script?"

The woman smirked as Regina emerged from the crowd, her own smug expression on her face.

"You're just a poor imitation of me," the brunette told the uninvited woman. "Threatening people at their wedding?" Regina walked up to the woman, standing toe to toe with her. "That's my job."

"Yes, I suppose it is." Neither Regina nor the woman moved an inch, a tension rising from both sorcerers that caused even more uneasiness amongst the already frightened crowd the longer it lasted.

"The problem, Regina, is that I just do it SO much better than you."

The woman moved half a second faster than the brown eyed Queen and a second later Regina was lifted up off the ground, struggling against the magical hold and gasping for breath.

"Mom!" Henry yelled out frantically but the woman ignored his fearful cry like he wasn't even there.

Both Roland and Robyn retook their aim and released their arrows. Their shots were true but the woman just flicked them away as if she were swatting away a bothersome fly.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… you've made your vows, now I make mine. Soon, everything you love, everything ALL of you love." The woman's eyes gleamed wild with amusement as she looked over the faces of those who had betrayed her. "Will be taken from you, forever. Out of your suffering, will rise my victory. Only I won't just be sending you to some corner of Maine… No. My curse will make Regina's little spell look like child's play…"

She finally dropped the brown eyed Queen at her feet. As soon as she was free, Regina gasped for the air that she had been viciously deprived of. Henry raced forward and helped her off of the ground, supporting her weight as she struggled to catch her breath.

The woman turned her smirk on the brown haired author and his mother. There was no sign of care in her gaze as she looked over him, lingering so he could see just how little he meant to her, before she turned back to the brides.

"I shall destroy your happiness… if it is the LAST thing I do!"

With a flip of her long blonde hair the woman turned and glided back down the aisle towards the exit.

"Hope!"

Hope Swan-Jones froze as her parents finally stepped forward. They had been watching wordlessly up until this point until they had finally found the courage to do what they had to. Tears gathered in Emma's hazel eyes as she looked at their daughter, trying not to imagine her as the infant baby she had cradled so close once many years ago...

"Don't do this, Love," Hook pleaded with the younger blonde. "Please…"

"There's still a chance for your happiness, Hope. REAL happiness," Emma added desperately.

Hope didn't even bother turning around to face the two of them. They weren't worth it. Before anyone else could do or say anything to her, she disappeared in a puff of dark blue smoke.

—

**Present Day**

She awoke in the forest staring up at a darkening blue sky. There was a long pause as her thoughts took an extra few seconds to catch up with her and wake up as well. Then, she racked her mind, trying to think of how she had ended up lying here.

It was then she realized she not only didn't know how she had gotten out there, she also couldn't remember where she even was. Or _WHO_ she was. The girl had no memory of any friends, family, events… it was as if her life started the moment she woke up in that forest except it couldn't have… Could it?

Her heart began to race but she wouldn't allow herself to panic. She couldn't panic, she had to stay calm. She was already in a bad situation and freaking out would just make things worse.

The girl sat up slowly, waiting for the heavy feeling in her body to fade before she looked around. She was surrounded by trees and a thick brush but, thankfully, a clearly marked walking path was just a few feet away. She slowly stood, her legs wobbly but otherwise she seemed uninjured and somewhat steady.

She looked down at herself, letting out a breath of relief when she saw that she was fully dressed in a pair of jeans, a brown long sleeved shirt with an olive green jacket overtop. She quickly patted herself down, both checking for possessions and hidden wounds. It seemed she truly was unharmed and while she didn't have a phone, she did have a wallet. The girl pulled it out and opened it, thankful to at least see an ID along with about a hundred dollars in cash and a debit card still safely tucked away. Whatever had happened, at least she knew she hadn't been mugged.

She looked at the ID for a moment, staring at the name on the license.

_Robyn Sheridan._

Robyn bit her lip as tears gathered in her eyes. That name wasn't familiar to her. Not at all. Her own name was foreign to her…

What the hell had happened to her?

Robyn made her way down the open path, hoping that she was heading towards the start of the trail and not traveling further on into the trees. Her prayers were answered just a moment later as she saw a paved road in the distance. Well that was another good thing to know, she certainly had good eyesight. With that noted in mind for future reference, she came out the way she believed she must have gone in.

Robyn emerged from the forest and took a deep breath as she glanced from one side of the road to the other. She soon spotted a large sign with cursive writing on it and she walked slowly over.

" _Welcome to Storybrooke,_ " it read.

Robyn decided that going into the town was her best bet at this point. If not to get some definite answers as to who she was, then at least to find someone who might be able to help. With a deep breath to ease some of her tight nerves, she walked into the small town of Storybrooke.

Meanwhile, under the Storybrooke toll bridge, a girl called Alice Carroll with wild blonde curls awoke, not knowing anything more about herself than Robyn did.

Far away from Storybrooke, a man with brown hair in a quiet suburb outside of Omaha, a brown skinned man in a rundown apartment in Southside Chicago, a man with black hair and glasses in a high rise in downtown Manhattan, and a woman with dark green eyes in a rusted trailer in rural Alabama, all had the same question as one another.

Who the hell were they?


	2. Chapter 2

We own no one but our own people

"Don't do this, Love," Hook pleaded with the younger blonde. "Please…"

"There's still a chance for your happiness, Hope. REAL happiness," Emma added desperately.

Hope didn't even bother turning around to face the two of them. They weren't worth it. Before anyone else could do or say anything to her, she waved her hand and disappeared in a puff of dark blue smoke.

Hope arrived safely back at her castle nestled high atop the forbidden mountains back in the Enchanted Forest. It had once belonged to Maleficent, but the mighty dragon had decided to settle down in Storybrooke, instead, so she could be close to her daughter, Lily. In the end she completely abandoned the tall dark towers of the building open to anyone who had the nerve to attempt to make it their own.

The blonde smirked to herself as she poured herself a glass of wine into a ornate decorated metal goblet. She walked over to one of the open windows and leaned against the wall, staring out over the edge of the clifftop where the cold water rested bellow. She briefly remembered the story her grandfather had told her, of his attack on the dragon in order to ultimately find his way back to his wife. As she took a sip of the blood red drink, Hope sneered at the memory. What she had once thought was a great act of bravery, turned out to be nothing more than a man too cowardly to live on without her.

"Regina's right you know," a voice chimed in from behind her, breaking her train of thought. "You could have at least come up with a new threat."

"I could have," Hope mused, still gazing off to the horizon. "But on the other hand why mess with a classic?"

She turned on her heel and sauntered over to the large ornate mirror standing in the middle of the rooml. She had stolen it from Regina's vault in a way that was almost too easy, and an all too familiar face stared back at her.

"Besides, in MY curse," Hope grinned at the man in the mirror. "Regina, Zelena.. all of them are going to finally learn how to TRULY take away someone's happy ending."

"You realize, that's what they all say at one point," Sidney told her raising a ghostly brow at the woman. "And all of them found that-."

"Yes, yes, I know. They found love, either with their children or their soulmates or themselves and realized their revenge wasn't all it was cracked up to be…" She rolled her pale blue eyes to the dark rafters far above her. "But I'm different. I've learned from their mistakes. I have found a sure fire way not to mess up my own happiness."

"Which is?"

Hope smirked slowly as she took another sip of the wine. "It's simple, Sidney. You just don't love."

"Easier said than done, I'm afraid."

"Oh please. You're just saying that because you're still obsessed with the Queen. As a matter of fact, the only reason why you're my mirror is because you had a choice of who had the honor; you or Regina. And you choose yourself."

She laughed loudly at what she considered to be sheer stupidity. "Sacrificing yourself for a woman who never even looked twice at you. Not to mention who is the reason you were trapped in the mirror world in the first place…" She paused to sneer at him, leaning forward and dropping her voice in a slight harsh whisper. "Even now, I can't get over how utterly pathetic that is."

But surprisingly, the mirror seemed unaffected by her words. Or at the very least he hid them well with a new smug expression of his own. "Speaking of loving those who've done us wrong, need I remind you about why you're so desperate for revenge in the first place?" He asked.

Hope's smile vanished, replaced with a glare as she scowled at the mirror for a moment. All the amusement was gone from her features and something snapped inside her. Without thinking, she threw her half full goblet at the looking glass, shattering it to bits and sending a wave of clattering pieces crashing down onto the stone floor at her feet.

"You realize that breaking a mirror doesn't actually hurt me right?" Sidney's voice rang out from another smaller less decorated mirror that hung on the wall to her right. "It just means you have sharp splinters of glass to pick up... Not to mention seven years bad luck."

"You don't talk about him!" Hope barked at the reflective servant. She stormed over to the mirror he had reappeared in, her sharp heels clicking dangerously on the stone floor with every step until she was inches away from it. "You don't ever talk about him!"

"I was only trying to say-."

"HE didn't do me wrong! HE didn't hurt me! It was her. It was ALL HER! That curly haired wench who ruined EVERYTHING, who took EVERYTHING from me!" She roared, turning very red in the face as she stood toe to toe with her mirror.

A familiar dark fire roared to life inside of Hope at the mention of a past life. One that seemed like a distant memory now, brought back along with a thousand painful memories of when she was good and innocent and wholesome and kind, back when she had lived up to the name her parents gave her. Back when she and Robyn would have sleepovers at one another's houses and would stay up until three in the morning gossiping about school and their friends and family. Back when they would spend most of the night talking about the boys that Hope and Alexandra thought were cute while Robyn always ended up talking about the girls she thought were pretty.

At twelve years old, Hope had been the first one Robyn had come out to. On a seemingly random day out together, she had told Hope how she liked the girls in their class instead of the boys, long before she told her mother or aunt. Even before she told her brother, Roland, in the realm crossing letter system that Regina had magicked up so the two siblings (and other families and friends) could stay in touch with one another. Even before she told her own father during one of her weekly visits to the cemetery.

Hope had accepted her best friend with open arms and without hesitation. In fact, immediately after that, she had asked which girl in their class Robyn had a crush on so that she could help play matchmaker for her. They had ran home giggling and squealing, planning future weddings and families they would have and cherishing that moment of innocent youth.

But all that was over now. Robyn had not only betrayed her, but she actually claimed to LOVE that disgusting monster. Robyn had been the one to bring Alice to Storybrooke. She was almost as responsible for what happened as Alice was.

Hope felt the memories coming back, memories she tried to banish for fear that they would make her weak. Memories of handsome eyes that were only for her, a smile that warmed her, hands that held her so strongly and promised to never let go.

He had been so good to her. So kind and warm and loving.

He hadn't meant to hurt Hope the way he did, she knew he didn't.

Then Alice had to take everything from her. Alice had destroyed her happiness in one swoop, taking her love, her future, her everything. And then… Then, after she had ruined all that, she had taken even more…

Hope shuddered. The memory was far too painful for her to re-live right now. Maybe even ever. An icy shiver ripped through her body as she was reminded of all that she had lost, reminding her why she was doing this. Not that she did, but if doubt ever tried to trick her, these memories were what kept her strong.

Shutting her eyes to keep the mirror from seeing her pain, she waved her hand at the mirror that had previously shattered. There was a clinking sound of glass tapping together, lifting from the ground and fixing itself like a puzzle until it looked as new as the day it had been made.

"I need to be quick about it though," Hope said, changing the topic of conversation with a tone that was suddenly calm and formal, like they were two colleagues discussing a normal days business. She turned away and went over to her desk drawer, pulling out the only object inside; a black scroll that contained her spell. Gently running her fingers over it, she took a slow breath to calm her rapid breathing. "They're going to try to stop me. They have my grandparents and my parents on their side, along with those the rest of my family. As well as the two witches, that forest smelling thug... Their side has everyone and I have no one."

For less than half of a heartbeat, there was a pinprick of sadness that stabbed at her but it was gone before the blonde could fully examine it.

"I can't let them plot against me for over a year like Regina did for my grandparents," said Hope. "That's how they figured out a plan to send my mom through the wardrobe. If she had struck quicker, then the curse never would have been broken. So that's exactly what I'm going to do. Like I said-."

"Learn from past mistakes," Sidney sighed, having heard that particular quote many a time from the blonde now.

Hope smirked as she waved her hand. Suddenly the wine goblet was back in her hand, half full, exactly how it was before she threw it. She took a slow and deliberate sip. "And that, my dear mirror, is precisely why I'm going to win and why everyone else is going to lose."

"And what precisely is your big master plan? You already tried the sleeping curse and that turned out exactly the same as it always does."

Hope's face fell at the reminder of her failure. "That was a fluke. If Zelena hadn't cast that locator spell, Alice would still be laying in that forest, trapped in that fiery netherworld."

"So your plan is to just hope Regina, Zelena AND your mother don't use magic to defeat you?"

"My plan is to strike first before they have a CHANCE to use their magic. Then…" An evil grin overtook her pale beautiful face. "I'm going to split them all apart."

"What are you talking about?"

Hope smirked as she strode around the room. Returning to the window and gazing outside once more, excited for the possibilities the open space promised her. Almost like the world itself was telling her that she was in control. That she had a blank canvas with which to work.

"That was the problem with the original curse. The Dark Fairy's curse, Gothel's… They kept all the heroes together. Even when they didn't know each other, Alice still had her father, Regina was still friends with Ella and Lucy. Most of the families and friendships remained intact in Regina's dark curse. Fiona sent them all to the same realm and still had Henry in Emma's life… That's how heroes always win. By working together," she muttered, disgusted. "So…in order to BEAT the heroes, you SEPARATE the heroes. That was the one thing Victoria Belfrey had going for her back when she thought she cast the curse. And maybe if she really had, then she would have won." Hope sneered. "If you take away the thing they love most, destroy the purest form of true love between a parent and their children… You can win." She paused, letting out a soft chuckle. "Oh Regina and my grandparents and that whole crew can stay in Storybrooke, sure. Because even if they somehow break the spell, they won't be able to even begin to know where to look for their children and they won't have any memory of their parents or their life before the curse." A wild eyed glint shined in her pale orbs. "It's the perfect plan."

"Every curse can be broken with true love's kiss," Sidney reminded her.

"Yes… True Love's kiss… Too bad no one's true love is going to be near enough for it to work…"

"Speaking of true love… You know what you have to do to enact the curse," said Sidney. "Do you really think you can pay that steep of a price?"

"Of course I can," said Hope without a moment's hesitation. Then, too quietly for the mirror to hear, she added; "I already have."

Sidney withheld a shudder. Even Regina had waged a debate with herself for a few minutes after she found out what had to be done in order to enact her revenge. Was it possible that Hope was as truly gone as she seemed?

"They choose the losing side. They knew the consequences of their actions," she finished as she magicked away the goblet from her hand. "And now they get to suffer with the rest of them."

The blonde witch heard a familiar 'poof' of smoke before she felt the presence of magic. She smirked as she heard the following footsteps running into her room.

"Hope!"

"Speak of the Devil," she practically purred as she turned to look at her parents, both still dressed in their outfits from that disgusting wedding they had just been at as if to add insult to injury as they reminded her just who they had chosen.

"If you're here to invite me to the reception, I must say I don't particularly care for wedding cake."

"This has gone on long enough," Emma told her daughter with a no nonsense bark making the younger blonde raise a perfectly manicured brow at the sheriff. "First, you put Alice under a sleeping curse then you threaten to curse the entire realm?"

"See that's where you're mistaken, Emma. A threat is what happens when you have no intention on following through with things. I PROMISE to curse the entire realm." Hope said boldly.

"Don't call me that, I'm your mother," Emma bit back.

Hope chuckled, sending shivers down her parents spine as she did. It was dark and cruel and cold, so much more different than the light hearted warm laughter she had in her youth, the one that reminded them all so much of Snow's.

"Oh really? You wanna play the 'mom' card now?" Hope went over and stood in front of the blonde, neither one backing down away from the other. "You never loved me, _Emma_. Neither of you ever cared about me."

"That's not true, Love," Hook pleaded.

The black haired pirate was fighting back his own emotions. This was the beautiful baby he had stared at in awe and amazement for hours when they first brought her home. This was the adorable little girl he had taught everything about sailing to, to the point where she rivaled him when it came to taking control of the Jolly Roger. This was the kind hearted teenager he had taken outside of the magical town of Storybrooke when she was eighteen because she wanted to meet with a Navy recruiter so she could follow in his footsteps just two weeks before the tragedy.

This was his daughter. This was his little Seahorse.

"We always loved you," Hook told her, forcing himself to push away the memories before they could break him. "More than anything else on this earth, Seahorse, you know that."

"No!" She barked as she rounded on her father, eyes burning a hatred until he almost didn't recognise her. "No you didn't! Because if you had, then you wouldn't have let Alice ruin everything! You wouldn't have let her destroy my life, you wouldn't have let her take EVERYTHING from me!"

"She didn't know what would happen! WE didn't know what would happen!" Emma argued. "If you want someone to blame, blame us."

"Oh trust me I do. But Alice is the one who took everything from me, so she has to pay for what she did first." She held up the spell between her thumb and finger with a smug grin. "And she will."

"You don't need to cast that," Hook pleaded. "You can be happy again without cursing the entire realm. You can find happiness again, even now, even after everything that's happened. Just look at me, and Regina and everyone. We all lost hope at one point, but then we found it again." He reached for her and Hope wasn't sure if the pun was intended or not.

Either way she ignored it.

"You're right. I can be happy again." Her sickly sweet smile put both Hook and Emma on the alert. "I can be happy again when I condemn Alice to an eternity of misery."

"You aren't going to cast that curse," Emma told her. Hope's rather frightening smile was replaced by a sharp glare.

"Who's gonna stop me? You? Do you really think your magic is stronger than mine?"

"I meant, that you aren't going to cast it because this isn't you," Emma clarified, every word overflowing with emotion. "I don't care what happened to you, I don't care what you lost, you still have light inside of you. You still have the love and joy that makes you, YOU! You are STILL my little Hope. You aren't going to pay the price of that curse, and you aren't going to make an entire realm suffer because of revenge."

Hope glared at her mother as the world's she spoke rattled around inside her. Once again that needle sized pinch of regret and sadness gnawed at her. Emma swore she saw tears fill Hope's pale eyes but they were gone before she could confirm anything.

Any look of emotions was replaced by a fury and anger, the only emotions Hope seemed to feel these days. She stared down her mother.

"Get out."

"Hope, please," Emma said as Hope turned on her heel and stormed away from her parents.

"Get out of my castle!" The younger blonde snapped. When neither made a move to leave Hope held out her hand and a dark blue ball of fire appeared in her palm. "I said LEAVE!"

Hook swallowed hard while Emma just gave her a look of pity. It was almost as bad as when they tried talking to her. Hope almost threw the fire on that look alone but then they poofed away in a hail of light gray smoke at the last minute.

Hope extinguished the flames and stormed up to the mirror and even Sidney knew not to offer a comment.

"Show it to me!" She barked and he at once knew exactly what she was talking about.

Hope watched as the image of the man in the mirror faded away in a beautiful scene of white sandy shore and crystal blue water, so clear you could see the bottom as far as the eye could stretch. Hope let her shoulders slump, gazing into the setting while the familiar comforting scent of salt and sea and sand enveloped her in a warm blanket.

The usually comforting view she had Sidney show her, only when she was particularly emotional, did nothing to help her this night. The hate and anger was still as prevalent as ever, almost overwhelming when she realized she would never get to enjoy seeing the sea again, she would never smile as the wind blew in her hair while she sailed on the open waters. She would never be content just to hear the real crash of the waves against the shore…

It was just one more thing Alice has taken from her and Hope swore that she would pay for that…

No matter what the cost.

**PRESENT DAY STORYBROOKE**

Robyn soon entered an insufferably quaint looking little town. There were people mulling to and fro, various store fronts with housing that looked almost exactly the same as the ones beside them, like someone had copy and pasted the buildings themselves side by side. The whole place looked rather boring, if she was being honest with herself. She glanced around, trying to find something familiar, something to jog her memory, as she walked down the sidewalk, but while it was all the same and boring… It was also nothing remotely familiar.

But she wasn't here to critique the place, she was here to get help. She doubt she was from this town; no one seemed to recognize her, no one even gave her so much as a friendly wave or nod.

Whoever she was, she was not well known in this little town, but that didn't mean they couldn't help her.

She walked a bit further on, hoping that SOMEONE would call out to her, recognise her and shout her name. Do anything so that she wouldn't feel quite so alone and frightened... But there was nothing. It was as if she was invisible.

Just as she began to think she would need to approach one of the people herself to ask for help, a small yellow car pulled up alongside her. Robyn watched in silence as a blonde woman in her mid thirties and a red leather jacket climbed from the front seat and stood by the side of the volkswagen, leaning against it slightly.

"Do you know me?" Robyn asked the woman instantly, praying for a conformation.

"Um, no, I actually pulled over because I noticed you're new in town," she explained. "People here get a little antsy when new people walk into Storybrooke and they call the sheriff so I have to come check it out."

Robyn felt both disappointed that she was indeed 'new' to the town she had somehow wound up in, but also relieved that she had stumbled on a cop.

"You're the sheriff?" Robyn asked, just to confirm what she had told her in case Robyn had misheard.

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, my name's Emma Swan. And you are?"

The seemingly simple question, which to anyone else would have had a simple answer, instead brought tears to Robyn's eyes. "I don't know," she said as she sniffed weakly.

Emma blinked. "... I'm sorry?"

"I don't know who I am."

"Like in a hippie 'I'm searching for myself' kind of way?"

"No, I literally have no idea who I am," Robyn clarified. "I woke up in the forest outside of this town and I can't remember anything. I don't remember my life or who I am or how I got here… I have no memories of anything. The only reason I even know my own name is because I have my ID on me."

Emma's face fell as she looked over the dark blonde woman. "I'm… I'm so sorry." She paused. "You said you know your name?"

Robyn nodded as she wiped away her tears on the back of her hand. She didn't know who she was or her history but she did know that she didn't like to showing her tears.

"Robyn Sheridan."

"Okay, Robyn, why don't you get in my car and I'll drive you to the hospital okay? Get you checked out. You don't seem injured but it's better to be safe than sorry and maybe the doctor can help figure something out."

She just nodded in silence as she got into the little yellow bug. It was comfortable and the warm smell somewhat helped her relax. Soon they were heading off down the little side streets of Storybrooke.

"So what state am I in?" Robyn asked after a long stretch of awkward silence. "I am in the US right? Or did England elect an American sheriff?"

"You are in a little corner of Maine in a small fishing village called Storybrooke," Emma told her as she turned down another street. "I've lived here as long as I can remember."

Seeing the look on Robyn's face at the common expression, Emma gave her an apologetic smile. "We're gonna find out what happened to you, Robyn. I promise."

Before the dark blonde woman could respond - not that she knew how - Emma's phone rang.

"Sheriff Swan," she answered. "Uh huh. Yeah." Robyn barely paid attention to the conversation the sheriff was having, turning to gaze out the window at her new surroundings until the blonde suddenly went quiet. Robyn looked over at her, and saw her jaw dropping slightly with a confused frown burrowing on her forehead.

"What?" Robyn asked. "Sheriff, what's going on?"

"Um… Yeah, I- I actually just picked up a girl with memory issues, too. No... No she's completely fine apart from the amnesia."

"What's going on?" Robyn asked again.

"Alright. Yeah, I'll be right there. Thanks."

Emma put her phone down and did a three point turn, going back the way she came.

"Apparently amnesia is spreading," Emma told her as she sped up her car back down the street. "They found another girl with memory issues."

Robyn's eyes went wide. "She… Wait, another girl with amnesia? Do you think we could be connected?

"Possibly. I mean, the chance of two separate cases is a pretty odd coincidence. Only she apparently isn't taking it as well as you are."

Emma sped up even faster and Robyn sat beside her in silence, her mind going over the new information a mile a minute. Two girls arriving in the same town with the exact same memory problems? There was no way that was a coincidence. Somehow they were connected. They had to be.

Emma drove down to the underpass where there was a short barrel chested man in jeans, a dark jacket over a flannel shirt with a brown beanie on top of his head. He was standing across from a young woman who appeared to be around Robyn's age. She wore a men's tattered green army jacket over a hospital gown and a pair of ripped black leggings underneath. Her pale face was framed wild tangled blonde curls and she had the palest blue eyes Robyn had ever seen. In one hand her fingers were clenched into a fist, and in the other… She held a rather large hunting knife.

Robyn's first thoughts was that she was beautiful. Stunning, in every way.

Her next though was that she looked absolutely terrified.

"She's crazy!" Leroy yelled at Emma as the sheriff pulled up nearby and got out of her car. She quickly walked up to the man, looking much more in control than he did. Robyn watched from the safety of the car, but something was biting in the back of her mind, telling her to follow. "I went up to ask if she was okay and she stole my knife!"

"Leroy, calm down," Emma told him strictly as she looked over at the skittish blonde woman. "What's your name?" she asked the curly hair blonde.

"Alice," she said with a trembling voice full of tears in a thick almost cockney British accent. "Alice Carroll. Or- or that's what the name on the badge says I don't- I don't know me, I don't know you, I don't know anyone. I don't know Alice Carroll, she's a stranger, Alice is a stranger, I don't like strangers, I don't wanna be a stranger."

Her words came out in quick rapid pace and she paced back and forth, walking along in dirty brown boots that were splashing water from the shallow river beneath the bridge.

Emma raised a brow at the sick woman, suddenly far more alert than she was a few moments ago. "It's nice to meet you, Alice. My name's Emma. You wanna put down the knife so we can talk? Then I won't be a stranger anymore."

Alice said nothing, just kept patting her thigh with the flat edge of the blade. She swallowed hard as her eyes shifted quickly from Emma to Leroy and back again.

"I can't remember anything," she cried out. "We- I can't see clear, I need to see clear, I can't see clear when I can't remember anything, I need to remember so I can see. I'm blind right now, blind as a bat, I don't wanna be blind I wanna see and I wanna remember but I can't remember, I can't!" She babbled without pause.

"Told you she was nuts," Leroy muttered.

Emma ignored him and took a cautious step towards Alice. "Okay, Alice, I need to put down the knife and come with me. I'm gonna get you some help," the sheriff explained.

"I don't know where I am, I don't- I don't wanna be here. I wanna be someplace I know, I don't know where I am, I wanna be somewhere else, I wanna be somewhere I know."

"I'll get you to somewhere you know, but you have to put the knife down." Emma said as she took another step towards Alice but the sheriff had apparently gotten to close because Alice suddenly raised the knife and pointed it directly at her. Her pale hand was shaking so hard that it was a wonder how she managed to hold onto the knife at all.

"You're lying! You can't take me somewhere I know because I don't know anything, I don't know anywhere or anything or anybody!" Alice cried.

Robyn watched, horrified as Emma's hand went to the gun resting on her hip. In two quick moves she pulled it out and pointed it at the terrified curly haired blonde.

"Don't!" Robyn cried. Without think she pushed open the door, nearly falling onto her knees in her rush to get out. But she didn't let that slow her. As soon as she was free of the seatbelt still trying to hold onto her arm, she jumped to her feet and ran over to Emma.

"Robyn, get back in the car!" The sheriff ordered, but Robyn ignored the demand as she stood in between the two blondes.

"You can't shoot her!" Robyn yelled.

"Do you recognize her?"

"No but she's obviously sick! You can't shoot someone like that!"

"Get back in the car now or I will take you to jail instead of the hospital."

Robyn didn't move a muscle. Instead she scowled at her and tightened her hands into stubborn fists.

"Did you not hear me?" She told Emma with a surprising command to her voice. A tone that she had no idea existed inside her until now. "I said leave her alone. Let me talk to her, maybe I can get her to calm down. Just put the gun away already." She paused, and added; "Please."

Emma looked at her for a moment, having a silent debate about it in her mind, before she finally lowered the gun and gave her a curt nod. Who knows, she told herself, maybe the first amnesia girl could actually get through to the second amnesia girl.

Emma sighed. When she woke up that morning, it had been such a normal day.

Meanwhile, Robyn took a deep breath before she turned around to face the still very frightened woman.

"Alice?" The curly haired blonde eyed this new woman apprehensively, and still refused to lower the knife. "My name's Robyn.

"Robyn… like the bird, like the thief, the thief is a bird, the bird stole my memories and she flew away, I wanna fly away, I wanna fly away where I can remember 'cause I can't remember anything here." Alice babbled, somewhat softer now.

"I can't remember anything either," Robyn quickly informed her. Alice's pale blue eyes grew wide with this new information. She watched Robyn carefully as the dark blonde took a careful step closer. "The only reason I know my name is because I saw my ID in my wallet. But other than that I don't remember anything. Just like you."

Alice's lip trembled and she lowered the knife half a hair. "Just like me." She whispered.

"I don't know what's wrong with us and trust me, I am just as scared as I know you are."

"I just wanna remember," Alice pleaded, suddenly tears flooded her eyes and began to stream down her face. A new expression of something close to trust on her face, almost as if Robyn was the one who could give her back her memories, breaking her heart in the process with a mixture of confused relief and fear.

Robyn truly wanted to help this girl. She wanted to help this poor beautiful scared woman more than she wanted even her own memories back. She was so scared, so lost, so innocent. Alice didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve the fear she was feeling.

"Please let me remember," she begged desperately.

Even Leroy's anger melted away at the pathetic sounding plea. He glanced at Emma and the two shared a look that was almost pitiful.

"You will," Robyn told her, her own voice beginning to crack. She took another slow step towards her. "We both will. Emma's the sheriff, and she's going to take us to a hospital. They can help us there. They're gonna help us get our memories back."

Robyn held out her hand towards the curly hair blonde and looked over her face. There was nothing left for her to say, she so put all the words remaining into her expression, silently begging Alice to trust her with nothing but her eyes.

Alice sniffed away the last of the tears that broke free before she handed the knife to Robyn who, without breaking eye contact, immediately held it back behind her, allowing the sheriff to take it from her. When the knife was safely away from them both, she offered a sad smile to the curly hair blonde as she reached over and put her arm around her. Slowly she began guiding her towards the car, giving her a comforting back rub as she walked.

"Come on, Alice." Robyn said softly. "Let's go get our memories back."

Please Review!


	3. Chapter 3

[5](https://m.fanfiction.net/r/13016807/)Chapter 3

We own no one but our own people

Two months later, it had happened. There had been rumors floating around for a while. All saying the same thing. That Hope had found a way to cast the curse without paying the price and it seemed that today was the day. Everyone could feel a dark magic building, surrounding them, like it was spewing through the air and into their very bones.

They knew it was time.

The families had all gathered in the familiar war room of Snows castle. It was their home base, had been since this had all began. Everyone sat with nervous and tense expressions on their faces.

"Do we even know what this is gonna do to us?" Alexandra Nolan neé Boyd asked as she looked around the room.

"It's gonna split all the families," Regina said with a sigh. "It seems little Hope has learnt from my mistakes."

"What are you talking about, you split up everyone with your curse," said Neal, not unkindly. He wasn't accusing her, but rather, simply stating fact.

"Not really, I didn't." Regina argued. "Everyone was still in Storybrooke together. Everyone mostly was still somehow connected to those they loved. Even Gothel put everyone in the same general area before Victoria began moving them out. Hope is… She's going to tear all of us apart. She'll put half of us in Storybrooke, the other half is going to be scattered around the globe in separate places. It seems half of us will have cursed memories like before, and the other half..." Regina swallowed hard as she looked at Henry. "Aren't going to remember anything at all."

Henry's face fell as he looked over at Ella where she was holding a young Lucy tightly in her arms. The small brown eyed girl was using all the strength she possessed not to cry as she gazed back up at him.

This couldn't be happening to her family. She couldn't lose her father, not again.

"Is there ANYTHING you or Mom can do?" Robyn asked with an uncharacteristic fright in her usually calm tone.

"We've tried, Sweetpea," Zelena answered, hating that she wasn't able to give her daughter more optimism. "We've tried everything. But as always, The Dark Curse is just too strong. There's nothing we can do. I'm so sorry, Robyn," the redhead finished softly, knowing what they all knew but were too afraid to voice aloud.

If they were all being split up and sent to different places, then Alice and Robyn would surely get the worst of it.

"There's one thing we haven't tried," said Emma who had been unusually quiet this particular gathering. But then, no one could blame her. None of them could imagine how she must be feeling, what with her own flesh and blood child being the reason they were gathered in fear like this. "Me and Killian, we can try talking to her again."

"Mom, don't," Henry pleaded. "What if she hurts you?"

"She won't," Killian said with such an authority, his step son almost believed the aging pirate.

"Hope is still in there somewhere, the real Hope. I have to believe that," Emma added. "I'd never give up on you, Henry, and I won't give up on her."

Henry smiled softly at his mother and reached over the table, grabbing her hand and squeezing lightly. Through his hold, Emma found herself drawing some strength. Strength from her first child to pass on to her second.

"Well in case that little talk doesn't go so well, I suggest we all say our goodbyes," Rogers said darkly, bringing a sudden halt to the affectionate moment between mother and son.

Emma released Henry's hand as she and Hook turned towards Rogers. They were only in mild surprise, finding the ex-detective was throwing furious daggers at the pair of them.

"We're sorry," Emma told the copy of her husband for what felt like the hundredth time, drawing her hand away from Henry and back to her lap as she did. "If we had know what would happen-."

"But you didn't did you?" He snapped back. "And now thanks to your daughter, who knows what's going to happen to Alice!"

"Careful, Mate," Hook warned his twin. "It's not like we're encouraging her to cast the bloody thing."

"No, you just didn't let us do what needed to be done back when she proved herself to be a danger!"

"Alright, both of you, knock it off," Snow warned the two pirates. "We are NOT going to spend what might be our last minutes together arguing."

The two black haired men cast one final glare at each other across the table before they leaned back in their chairs, their movements so identical, it might have been funny if not for the tense situation. Emma reached over, rubbing Hooks squared shoulders in an attempt to calm him down in only the way she could.

The short haired princess looked around the table at the heroes and reformed villains. Even now, it still amazed her how they were able to work together. Not only as friends but also in some cases - Snow glanced over at Regina who sat between an equally nervous looking Zelena and Henry - they were family…

"We're going to say our goodbyes," Snow continued. "Then Killian and Emma are going to go find Hope and talk to her. To try and convince her to do the right thing. If they get her to stop the curse, then that's amazing. If they don't…" She looked over at David and grabbed his hand, not turning her eyes from her true love. "We just have to have believe that we'll find each other like we always have before." She turned her attention back to the table. "Because that is what this family does best. If this curse is cast somehow, someway, we will find a way to break it because that is what heroes do and we ARE heroes. All of us," Snow said with a pointed glance towards the two Mills sisters.

Everyone took that final hope speech to mean that the powwow has concluded. With heavy hearts, they all broke up into smaller individual groups amongst themselves. It was a powerful speech, but many still felt the weighing tension press down on them as they stood from their seats and wandered from the room.

The moment Robyn and Alice were away from the crowd, they wrapped their arms around one another tightly. They squeezed one another, neither one of them ever wanting to let the other go, not even for a second.

"I don't wanna be without you again," Alice cried as she clung to her wife. "This is all my fault. If we hadn't fallen in love, then none of this would have happened. You and your family would be safe if it weren't for me."

Robyn pulled away from her beloved, taking her face in her hands so she could look at her in her beautiful blue eyes. "Alice, listen to me… I don't care what happens to me. I don't care about being cursed. I would rather be cursed, I would rather everyone in this whole realm be cursed, then live a hundred years without knowing you."

Robyn buried her hand in her wild blonde curls, the softness against her fingers leaving a slight exciting tickle along her skin. "You heard Snow. All curses can be broken, and this one is no exception. You told me once that we'll always know each other, even if we don't." Robyn looked into Alice's eyes intensely, her voice wanting to shake but she forced it to stay steady. For Alice's sake, she knew she had to be strong. "I will ALWAYS know you, Alice. I promise."

"I think we can help you with that."

Both girls turned and saw Neal walking towards them. He had his arm wrapped around Alex, both of them looking every bit the noble Prince and Princess they were expected to be. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vile. He handled it with care as he held it out towards them, and the girls saw that, in it, there was something that seemed to be emitting a bright purple glow.

"Here," the former school teacher said, handing Robyn the vile. "Take it."

"What is it?" Asked the archer with the slightest frown.

"It's a lock of my hair that my sister enchanted," he explained. "I'm just as much a product of true love as she is," he reminded them. "And… I was going to use it to keep me and Alexandra together. We would have ended up in Storybrooke and we would have escaped whatever Hope had planned for us but…"

"We thought you and Alice might need it more than us?" Alex finished for her husband.

Alice and Robyn looked at one another for a moment. Could this really be happening? Would they really stand a chance against her curse?

"So… we'll have our memories?"

"No," he admitted. "But you'll be together in Storybrooke. You'll have a chance to find one another."

Robyn wrapped her arm around Alice's waist as the curly haired blonde moved to rest her head on her shoulder, giving the two royals she had grown up with a teary smile. More grateful than any words could express, Robyn wasn't sure how to show them this. There was no way to express her gratitude for the gift they had given. "Thank you. Both of you, I don't… I don't know how we can ever repay you."

The prince reached forward and took the archers hands. "Break the curse, Robyn. That's how you can thank us. Break the curse and bring us all together again."

"I'll try," Robyn promised. She turned and kissed the top of Alice's head. "We'll try."

With one final smile Neal and Alex turned and headed back to where the Charmings had gathered, him and his parents wrapping their arms around one another in a tight group hug that was screaming an emotional goodbye. Meanwhile, slightly to the side of them, Regina was with Emma, saying their own goodbyes to Henry, both of them with tears in their eyes as they did.

"That family really has a thing about finding each other, don't they?" Alice asked with a teary chuckle.

"Oh you have no idea," Zelena said as she approached the two girls. "Bit annoying actually."

Alice gave a rather weak smile to the redhead before she finally forced herself to release her hold on Robin. Their hands stretched out to touch each others for a few seconds long before Alice finally stepped too far out of reach. Resisting the urge to look back, Alice focused as she made her way over the room to her Papa. Partly to have some privacy with him, and partly to give some to Robyn and her mother.

Alice immediately reached up and wrapped her arms around Rogers without pause on her approach. She buried her face in his shoulder, pressing down hard and breathing a familiar cologne lingering to his shirt as he hugged her back, pulling her close and squeezing tightly.

"You're gonna be okay, Starfish," the pirate told her softly. "We all will."

"I don't wanna lose her again, Papa," she told him, her voice muffled against him as she had yet to pull away from their hug. "I don't wanna lose either of you. Even if me and her are in Storybrooke together, what if we can't fall in love again? What if we hate each other? What if Hope gives her another wife or- or a husband or what if the spell Neal gave us doesn't work or-."

"Love, listen to me," Rogers interrupted her rambling with a gentle brush of her hair, pushing it out of the way of her ear. "True love will win out over everything, you have to believe that. You're going to be together with Robyn again, _WE_ will be together again." Rogers had loosened his hold during his speech, but quickly tightened it again, pressing a kiss to her temple and mumbling into her hair slightly. "I love you, Starfish."

"I love you too, Papa…"

Meanwhile Zelena stood side by side by her daughter, both of them watching as Emma and Hook disappeared from the hall with a puff of light grey smoke. They were one of the only families not embracing or breaking down in tears against each others shoulders.

"Think they're going to get Hope to stop it?" Robyn asked the red head quietly, not taking her eyes off of the spot they had been standing before Emma had magicked them away.

"Not on their lives, which their little talk may bloody well cost them," Zelena said low enough so none of the Charmings heard. "But they are the hopeful bunch. No pun intended."

"Well, with as many curses as they've been through, they kinda have to be hopeful," Robyn said. "WE have to be hopeful too though, Mom. The Charmings can't be the only ones with all the faith. We have to have some too."

"Yes well with our family history, hope and faith is rather hard to come by." Robyn glanced down at the floor and Zelena's face fell. "I'm sorry, Darling. I have faith we'll be together again and that you and Alice will see one another again, I do. I'm just not as vocal about it as they are."

"I don't think anyone's as vocal about hope and faith as that family is," Robyn said with a sad chuckle.

The two of them stood by one another for a moment before Robyn suddenly turned to her. Zelena nearly fell back as Robyn threw herself against her and wrapped her arms around her mother, holding onto her as tightly as everyone else.

"I love you mom," Robyn told her with a shaky breath.

Zelena sucked in a deep breath to keep the tears at bay. She wanted to keep up the appearance of being strong and in control for her daughters sake. But that didn't mean she had to be cold about it. So with that thought in mind, she held back the tears at the same time as she embraced her daughter in return.

"I love you too, my little green bean," said the witch, reaching up and stroking her long blonde hair. They held one another for a moment before Zelena pulled away, wiping the tears away from her daughter's cheeks with a gentle flick of her fingers and forcing a smile as she looked into Robyn's pale green eyes. Those eyes, the only physical likeness she seemed to inherit from her and, in some ways, Zelena found herself strangely glad about that.

"You're going to be alright," Zelena promised her. "She's going to be alright…"

Robyn nodded, sniffing away her tears. She still felt so miserable, but if she controlled her features, then she might at least have the appearance of being in control of herself. Of course, unknown to Robyn, that was exactly what Zelena was managing.

But the younger girls plan of holding herself together went to hell the moment she saw a familiar brown eyed man walk into the war room. Robyn abandoned her spot by her mother and hurried over to the newest person. She pulled him into a much more comfortable hug and nearly choked him with how tightly she clung on.

"I didn't know if you'd come," Robyn admitted with a sob.

"You didn't think I'd let you go through this alone, did you?" Roland asked as he hugged his little sister. "I just had to help get the people of Sherwood ready for what's coming."

The two siblings held one another for a moment before they pulled away. They stepped back only enough to be able to properly look at one another and Roland smiled until his dimples dipped even further into his cheeks. He smiled at her with that same cheeky mischievous grin she saw so often when she looked at all the photographs of the man they both so admired.

"Besides, I'm kinda excited to see what kinda new life I'm gonna get. Maybe I'll be lucky and be a war hero or a model or something. I am the Hood with all the good looks after all."

Robyn laughed at her brothers comment. Even now, facing a terrifying situation where neither had any idea what was going to happen to them, he could still make her laugh.

"Keep dreaming," she said with a soft laugh as she wiped the last of her tears away.

The brown haired man chuckled, almost unconsciously reaching up and grabbing the arrowhead that hung on the string around his neck. Without realising it, his sister did the same to its mate resting against her own chest.

On their tenth birthdays, Roland had gotten his fathers bow, and Robyn had gotten his quiver. The two of them decided to take his bowstring and fashioned it into two necklaces with two of his arrowheads fastened to one end, so no matter where they went, they would always have a part of him, but also would always have a connection to each other as well.

Roland smiled softly at her, then his face began growing more serious as he grabbed hold of her shoulder. "He'd be really proud of you, Robyn," Roland said, giving her what he knew to be the greatest compliment anyone could pay to either of them.

Robyn had finally stopped crying before he said that. And just like that, all at once, a new wave of fresh tears burst forth.

"You too," Robyn managed to croak around the lump forming in her throat.

The moment between the two Archers were abruptly brought to an end by the loudest most pitiful cries in the room.

Lucy had tried to be brave and hopeful like her parents and her great grandparents. She had tried to be strong like both of her grandmothers had been, and tried to be a believer like her father, but it had finally gotten too much for the eleven year old.

"I don't wanna leave you again!" The brown eyed child cried loudly, clinging to Henry as tight as she could, sobbing so hard her small body shook.

Ella couldn't help the tears that flooded her own eyes and she covered her mouth to hold back her sobs, watching her poor girl cry her little heart out. She was so young, too young, to have to go through all of this again.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, Lucy. It's gonna be okay," Henry said, leaning down as he hugged his incolsable daughter. "We're gonna find eachother again."

"I don't want to find you again!" The small girl sobbed. "I just want us to be together!"

Robyn bit her lip as she watched the scene play out in front of her, the girls emotions striking at her like a dagger in the heart. Alice finally left her own spot at Rogers side and hurried over to Neal.

"What you gave Robyn, the magic to keep us together, will it work for Lucy and her parents?" Alice demanded. "The magic of true love, will it work to keep a whole family together?"

She hadn't even needed to ask Robyn for permission. Didn't need to even discuss the potential of sending them both someplace far more terrible than just Storybrooke, without their memories to help them, just so the small family could stay together instead.

They both knew this was the right thing to do. Neither would not tear a little girl away from her parents.

But sadly Neal responded with a slow shake of his head. "It doesn't keep parents and children together, just spouses."

Henry, who had looked up in hope upon hearing Alice's request, felt his heart crumble as his daughter cried even louder against him. Her tight fists clutching him even tighter now.

"It's gonna be okay," Henry told her softly, gently stroking his daughter's soft brown hair. "Your mother still has the white elephant, it'll keep you two together."

"But I want all of us together! I'm sick of being apart! I'm sick of curses and villains! I just want to be happy!"

Henry but his lip as he looked towards a heartbroken Regina. "Mom, is there anything you can do?" he begged her.

"Grandma, please!" Lucy sobbed, temporarily forgetting that the brown eyed queen strongly preferred not to be referred to that way. She released her father and rounded on the older woman, tears still streaming freely down her cheeks. "I don't wanna lose my dad again!"

Regina thought for a moment. Anyone else she would have told them there was nothing but for her granddaughter, for Henry and his family, she knew she had to try. After a moment of deep thought, racking her brain for all the possibilities she could come up with, she finally nodded. It wasn't certain, but she had to try. Walking up to Ella, Regina outstretched her hand to her. "I need the elephant."

Ella didn't hesitate to hand the Queen the tiny white elephant. Regina took a deep breath as she waved her hand over the elephant's miniature figure, the tiny glass figurine glowing a dark blue for just a moment before it settled down again.

"I've done what I can to double its magic," she explained as she handed it back to Ella. "Now TWO of your most precious relationships remain intact." Regina smiled down at her teary eyed granddaughter. "You're going to have both of your parents with you, Lucy."

Lucy sprinted away from her parents and over to the Queen. She practically knocked her off her feet as she knew her body against her, hugging her tight and spilling fresh tears onto her dress. Though these were no longer tears of misery and instead tears of joy as she sobbed out her endless thanks.

A loud thunderous clap and strong set of winds suddenly roared from every possible direction all at once. A heavy ominous blue smoke began to surround the castle, creeping in through the cracks and seeping through the open doorways and windows like a flood.

Alice raced over to her wife's side and Robyn reached out, pulling her close and wrapping her arms tightly around the curly haired blonde. Roland silently grabbed hold of Robyn's shoulder, squeezing almost painfully tight, trying his damndest to hide the fear from his expression, for the unknown of what was coming. It wasn't easy, but he managed by thinking of only one thing.

His parents wouldn't have been scared...

"Where's Mom?!" Henry shouted. He looked to Regina, calling out over the almost deafening sounds of the supernatural storm outside. At the same time, he wrapped his arms around Lucy and Ella, pulling them close while Neal, Alex and the Charmings all huddled around one another and did the same. "And Hook. Why aren't they back yet?!"

Regina just opened her mouth and closed it, unsure how to answer. She was saved from having to come up with an explanation, however, by Zelena running up to the Queen. Her aversion to public displays of affection diminished as she and her sister embraced one another, thinking of nothing but what was to come. The life altering curse that held a thousand nightmarish unknowns under its growing dark smoke that was beginning to spill around their feet and legs, growing slowly towards their bodies.

Rogers hurried over to Alice, placing a comforting hand on his daughter's back with one hand while the other touched her shoulder. He would have happily given his life to spare her from all of this. But he couldn't, so he'd settle for something else instead.

He would setting with just being there for her, until the very end.

The last thing any of them saw was the roof of their castle being ripped off. It made such an echoing crashing sound as the bricks were torn apart, everyone inside instantly cringed and ducked despite no rubble falling towards them. And then, the bright blue cloud of smoke began to spin like a cyclone, twirling over their heads, followed by flashes of sharp, unnatural lightning.

Then, the smoke above dived down and the smoke at their feet reached up.

And everything went black.

**Earlier...**

"Hope!"

Hope smirked as she turned on her heel. Her mother and father appeared in a puff of light grey smoke near the middle of the room. The cauldron beside her was bubbling with a foul smelling dangerous looking brew inside, still stirring itself calmly. It was almost ready.

"Come to watch the show?" The blonde asked, feigning an exaggerated innocence.

"Seahorse, you can't do this," Hook pleaded. "Please. There is still a part of you in there, there is still love and goodness inside of you."

"I know how hard it is to feel that right now, trust me I know," Emma told her daughter, taking a step forward. "I know what it's like to have the light sniffed out of you but you can get it back!"

Hope glared at the two of them. Hadn't they already been over this ad-nasium?

"No, actually, you can't," Hope spat. "My light is gone, my LOVE is gone! And you wanna know why?"

"Hope, please," Hook begged as their daughter stormed over to him.

"Because Alice took it! She took EVERYTHING away from me! She destroyed EVERYTHING good about me! She destroyed my love, my light, my-... my hope!"

The blondes voice cracked at the last moment and tears flooded her eyes and suddenly she almost looked like their lost little girl. But only for a moment because then the cold look was back. "And neither of you even care!"

"We do care!" Emma told her with her own tremble to her voice. "Hope, we do, you have to believe us."

Hope shook her head, stealing her gaze. It wasn't easy, but she forced herself to remember who exactly she was and why she was here in this cold dark and dreary castle. All alone. Alone and unloved.

"The only thing I _have_ to do is cast this curse and then I can condemn Alice to the same pain and hopelessness she has made me feel." Hope whispered, her voice dangerous empty of emotion.

"You found a way to cast this curse without paying the price," Emma reminded her. "You're so incredibly powerful, even after eveything, and yet you still have love in your heart for your family. If you didn't, you wouldn't have tried so hard to look for a loophole."

Hope smirked at her mother, but it was different than all the other times she had put on a show of bravado or wore a mask of smugness. There was an undeniable sorrow behind it that worried Emma as much as it gave her hope.

"Yeah… about that…"

Without another word, and without so much as a blink of her eye, Hope closed the distance between them. Before anyone had time to react, she reached her hand out and drove it into Hooks chest.

"HOPE, NO!" Emma screamed, her eyes wide with undeniable terror as Hook cried out in pain beside her.

Hope merely smirked as the pirate dropped to his knees when she yanked out the glowing red heart streaked with black. She felt it pulsing in her grip and felt a thrill of nervousness and excitement crawl through her.

"I figured you two were gonna come here to try to talk me out of it one last time if you thought I was ready to cast the curse." Hope explained, squeezing the glowing organ in her hand slowly and making him cry out again. "God, you two are just so predictable…"

"Don't hurt her!" Hook begged when he saw Emma raise a hand, struggling to catch his breath.

With a wave of the hand that wasn't gripping her father's heart, Hope froze the older blonde in place. She gave her one last cold smile before she turned back to her father. His eyes were shut tight against the pain and he reached out blindly, grabbing his daughters arm with his free hand, clutching her tight.

"Please," he begged. "Please don't… Seahorse…"

"Begging for your life?" She scoffed. "That's pathetic."

Hook shook his head, gasping as she squeezed the glowing red organ. "Not- not my life… Your heart…" Hope glared down at him and at his words but nevertheless let him continue. "You will have a- hole… in your heart that can- can never mend…"

The young girl merely looked at him in mild boredom before she turned away. She stepped back to her place and held his heart over the cauldron. "My hearts already unfixable."

Hook squinted through at her, but when he saw the look on her face, he knew she would not be convinced otherwise. Her conviction was too strong. All hope was gone. He closed his ocean blue eyes for a moment, as if soaking in this truth, before he turned back towards the still frozen sheriff by the door and smiled sadly at the woman who had given him a second chance at love and at life.

"I love you, Swan."

Hope was sacrificing him, yet Emma felt as if her own heart was being shattered.

He felt a moment of pure pain as Hope crushed his heart. She let the dust fall through her fingers, trickling down into the still stirring potion, and with that, the great and terrible Captain Hook was gone.

With that final act, heavy blue smoke began to pour from the cauldron. It melt down over the side and spread across the floor like a rupturing vulcano, stretching out and reaching towards the rest of the world. It began to surround the castle as a lightning storm flashed over head and thunder clapped outside the broken windows.

While the chaos built around her, Hope merely looked down at her father. Without looking at her, she unfroze her mother with another short wave of her hand. Immediately the older woman collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face, her whole body shaking but she couldn't quite manage the sobs, which was worse than anything else. She couldn't even express her grief, it was so overwhelming.

No. No, Killian couldn't… No... Not again. Not again. Please not again...

"You won't remember him," Hope muttered to Emma without taking her eyes off of her deceased father. "You won't be in pain for long…"

Without a look towards the older blonde, Hope turned away and strode from the room. It wouldn't be long now as the spell overtook the entire realm.

She walked at a steady pace, but didn't rush, and barely flinched as she heard the desperate heartbroken scream from where Emma had found her voice. Despite the agony behind the cry, Hope didn't hesitate in her stride, nor glance back to the room where she had just left her parents.

Parent. Where she left her parent.

Hope looked out the window as the blue smoke covered the land, all the while the lightning continued to flash dangerously. It was consuming everyone and everything, working its dark magic through the whole of the land and all its kingdoms.

Hope finally paused. She looked out the window as she watched her curse take over the lives of everyone in its way… And smiled.

—

**Present Day Storybrooke**

"Well there's no obvious sign of head trauma. Tox screen came back clean. Vitals are all normal… Maybe the scans will tell us more."

Robyn nodded as she sat on the edge of the hospital bed, watching while a platinum blonde doctor called 'Whale' looked over her. She was doing her best, trying not to look too disappointed when he came to his conclusion and told her that there was absolutely nothing outwardly wrong with her.

Emma was leaning against the wall by the door with a frown on her face. Two girls with amnesia both turned up the same day in her sleepy little town, one of them with obvious mental health issues and yet there was absolutely no physical sign of trauma? Something was very wrong here.

Whale handed Robyn her hospital gown and gave her a comforting smile. Or rather, as comforting as he could anyway, which truly wasn't that comforting at all.

"Put this on and we'll get you sent upstairs for an MRI and CT scan. We're gonna get this figured out, Robyn," he promised.

"Thank you, Doctor," Robyn said.

Another, not-really-all-that-warm smile and he left the room so she could change.

"You doing okay?" Emma asked as Robyn stood up from the bed and pulled off her jacket.

She just shrugged, biting back tears. "I mean… it'd be different if someone knew what happened. Like if I had a giant bruise on my head that showed I hit my head or something obvious but I don't even know why this happened to me. And then, another girl shows up with the same issues in the same town at the same time?"

"We're going to get it figured out. Dr. Whale is an excellent doctor," Emma assured her. "Plus you have ID, I'm gonna use that to run your name through our database and check out your address, see if i can't get any other information on you."

"Thank you."

Emma smiled at her - it was FAR more comforting than Whales had been - and she started to leave, meaning to let her change in peace when Robyn called out after her.

"Do you know how Alice is doing?" asked Robyn, hoping for a happy answer.

"I'm just about to go see her. I got the town psychiatrist in with her now to see if he can give her something to calm her down." Emma explained, glancing back over her shoulder.

Robyn nodded. "Okay. That's good. But um…"

"But what?"

Robyn bit her lip. "Let me know how she is? I mean, she lost her memories and she obviously has other issues on top of that and… I… I just wanna know if she's okay."

Another smile, though softer this time. "Of course."

Emma finally left the young woman and the moment the doors shut behind her, Robyn stood up from the bed and began to strip completely. She pulled off her olive green shirt and noticed a rather curious bit of artwork on her ribs.

It was a black outline of a girl with long hair standing with her hands positioned politely behind her back. She was dressed in a big poofy skirt with matching poofy sleeves and a small bow on top of her head along with a pair of Mary Janes on her feet. Underneath, were the words; 'In a World Of My Own' written in a cursive script.

"Hey Emma," Robyn called out, hoping the sheriff was still close enough to hear her.

Sure enough, moments later, the blonde sheriff walked back in with an inquisitive raised eyebrow. "What's up?"

Robyn turned and showed her the tattoo, her brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't know if this'll help you track down anything about me but apparently I have a tattoo."

Emma looked at it and nodded. "Actually that does help. If there's anything about you in missing persons, the tattoo will make you easier to find." The blonde examined it closer. "Looks like you're quite the Alice in Wonderland fan."

"Alice in Wonderland?"

Emma nodded. "Disney movie. And books too but I've only ever seen the movie." She pointed at the tattoo. "That looks like the outline of Alice and the words are from a song in the movie."

Robyn looked down at the artwork for a moment, pursing her lips. Alice in Wonderland… Alice in Wonderland… Obviously she was a fan if she had gotten artwork from the movie permanently inked on her body but it didn't ring any bells. It certainly didn't bring back any sparks of a memory… Or did it? The name did sound vaguely familiar...

No. No, she was being silly. Alice was the name of the girl who was suffering amnesia alongside Robyn. That's why the name sounded familiar.

"Looks like you're also a lion fan."

Emma's voice brought Robyn back from her thoughts, confusing her for a moment before she looked down to where the sheriff was pointing. On her right shoulder, shining in proud black ink, was a black shield surrounding a medieval looking lion.

Robyn frowned down at it as she ran her hand over the scarred ink. Even more than the Alice tattoo, this one HAD to have some significance. Who got a tattoo of a medieval lion crest without a good reason behind it?

But, just like with the character on her ribs, no burst of inspiration came forth from the sight of it. Certainly no flashes of a forgotten life…

Her hand reached up and she, almost unconsciously, grabbed hold of the arrowhead on the string around her neck. It was a strange little random necklace if she ever did saw one, yet there was something comfortable about holding it. Something comfortable… And worrying at the same time.

Seeing the distressed look on Robyn's face Emma reached out and rubbed her shoulder gently. "We're gonna figure this out, Robyn. I promise."

But Emma's promise went unfulfilled.

The MRI revealed nothing wrong with her brain, the CT scan having similar results. Even a last ditch effort X-ray revealed not so much as even a sprain. According to all the tests, she was a perfectly healthy girl in her mid to late twenties with unusually rough and blistered hands, who for whatever reason, was suffering from a bout of amnesia.

Robyn tried to not roll her eyes when Whale suggested she spend the night in the hospital, telling her that perhaps a good night's rest might help. Because sleep always cured memory loss…

When she was finally left alone once more, Robyn got up out of the bed, pulled on a pair of sweatpants that one of the nurses had been kind enough to give her, and walked out of her little room. It was surprisingly quiet for a hospital, but Robyn was grateful for the peace as she nuged outside and down the hall.

She asked one of the nurses she was able to grab where the girl Emma had brought in - this Alice Carroll - was staying. At first the woman had been unwilling to tell, but she also seemed too bored to care about proper protocol and eventually gave up her desired information. Thanking the nurse sincerely - even if she was already turning away by the time Robyn had started - she headed towards where the nurse said Alice was staying.

When she found the room she was looking for, Robyn paused outside. - Should she be feeling so at east with this? - Shaking those thoughts aside, she gently knocked on the door and wait just a second before she poked her head inside. The room seemed to be quiet similar to her own, and this uninteresting. Robyn ignored all of it and instead let her eyes lock down on where the curly haired blonde dressed in a new hospital gown waiting. Alice looked up at the sound of the knock and smiled at the girl who was now standing in the doorway.

"Hi," Alice greeted, far more relaxed and coherent from last time they spoke. "Robyn right?"

Robin slipped further inside. "Right." She said. "Spelled with a Y."

"So... Yobin."

The grin on Alice's smile face let her know she was only joking and Robyn chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, pretty close."

The two shared a smile as Robyn walked in, letting the door swing shut behind her. She took a seat by her bedside close to Alice. "How you feeling?"

"Better," she admitted. "I um… Dr. Hopper, he… He gave me some… Pills. To calm me down."

There was a silver of embarrassment at the admission that she had been given medication but Robyn just shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretty sure that doctor who suggested sleep might help our memories needs some kind of pills too."

Alice chuckled rather sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah probably." Her laughter died and she bit her lower lip. She looked down and began tugging at a loose piece of string hanging off the edge of the blanket covering her, her smile falling. "I'm sorry. For losing it earlier, I was just scared and-."

"Hey, don't even worry about it, you're fine," Robyn promised. "Like I said I was about three seconds from losing it too."

"I know but I… That sheriff? The blonde one? She coulda shot me, and you saved me so I- I just… I wanted to say thank you. For being on my side."

Robyn smiled softly at her. "You don't have to thank me for that."

The two girls shared a quiet smile between them for a stretched out moment before there was another sudden knock at the door. This time, when it opened, it was Emma who walked back in.

"How you feeling, Alice?" The sheriff asked, but there was something else in her voice. Something other than kindness or genuine curiosity. In fact it was almost like an edge of apologeticness.

"I'm good, Sheriff," Alice answered. "I'm sorry for earlier."

But like Robyn, Emma just shook the apology away. "It's fine, you don't have to apologize. I actually should be the one saying sorry. I never should have pulled my gun on you."

Alice felt herself relax slightly and smiled. "Thank you, Sheriff. I appreciate that."

Emma gave her a half smile before it fell again. "But um, I didn't just come to apologize, I uh… the Mayor…"

"The Mayor what?" asked Robyn.

But before Emma could answer there was a very loud shriek from the hallway. "Where the _HELL_ are they?!" A moment later the door slammed open, making all three women jump.

In the doorway stood a stunningly beautiful blonde woman. Her long hair was in loose waves around her shoulders and her pale blue eyes, which would have reminded Robyn of the curly haired girl sitting beside her if they had been filled with more kindness and less angry fire, were narrowed in an intense dislike. And the gaze was pointed directly at the two of them. She was dressed in a deep blue pencil skirt with a matching blouse and jacket with dark blue pumps that clicked loudly when she walked on the solid tiles.

"Why are you here?!" The Mayor snapped, her hands curled into an angry fists. "How did you get here?! ANSWER ME!"

"Madame Mayor, relax!" Emma told her with wide eyes. She had never seen the Mayor be this angry for… Well, for as long as she could remember her being in office. "They don't remember anything!"

"She- she's right," Alice said in a quick babble, shying away from the other woman's anger. "I- I don't, I don't remember anything, I- I don't know-, I-!"

The curly haired blonde closed her eyes and took a shaking breath, trying to remember what Dr Hopper had told her before she had been given this room to settle in:

Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Focus on something. What does it sound like, what does it look like, what does it feel like…?

Robyn.

Alice looked over at the blonde still sitting beside her. She seemed more confused at the sudden appearance of the Mayor than frightened, like Alice was.

Focus on Robyn.

What did she sound like? Well… Quite nice, really. A slightly deep pleasant voice. Though Alice couldn't recognise the accent, there was something unmistakably calming about the way she spoke.

Looks… Well… She was beautiful, of course. Sandy blonde hair, friendly light green eyes, tall, attractive, a nice shape overall…

What did she feel like? Well when she had wrapped her arm around her waist earlier, that had felt rather nice. Warm. Soft. Comforting.

The trick worked. It had brought her back to the moment instead of letting her brain run wild with the crazy babbles she had said earlier.

While Alice had been focusing on keeping herself calm and keeping her mind focused on the now, the others continued to stare at the Mayor like she had grown a second head. The other woman's own outrage also remained, and she glared hatefully at Alice, even as the other girls mind drifted and she began to ignore her.

"For real, relax. We don't even know who we are, much less what we're doing in your boring ass town," Robyn fired back.

Instead of being offended at the, admittedly, rude remark, the anger seemed to melt from the Mayor's face as she looked between the two girls, slowly taking in their blank expressions one at a time. "...You don't remember… anything?"

"No, we don't. That's why we're here," Robyn said, waving her hand around the hospital room with Alice nodding beside her.

The Mayor's hot fury suddenly turned into a cold smile that sent a chill through the two new arrivals spine. Alice suddenly wished the anger was back. It had been less frightening. "I see. Well then… As Mayor let me be the first to welcome you to Storybrooke. My name is Hope Swan-Jones." She said it all with an almost sickly sweet forced tone. Like she was biting back a series of sharp responses, and the entire faux speech was directed to Robyn alone.

"Robyn Sheridan," Robyn answered back, with none of the coying sweetness Hope had spoken to her in.

Hope merely smiled before she finally turned towards Alice, cocking her head to the side as if she was studying the suddenly nervous blonde. "Sheriff Swan, did I hear right when I was told about this woman assaulting and nearly killing you and Leroy?"

"Well assaultings a strong word," Emma began but the Mayor wouldn't hear of it.

"She went after you with a knife, Sheriff. You had to draw your gun. Correct? Plus, I hear she had to be put on anti psychotic drugs?" Hope went on.

"Yeah but-."

"If that's all correct, then why isn't that woman down in the psych ward or at the very least in restraints?" Hope demanded, the oddness smugness growing in her voice the longer she went on.

Robyn heard the tone immediately and raised a brow at the Mayor. She didn't look and didn't see the way Alice swallowed hard, trying her best to stay in the moment, to not lose it like she had earlier. But even without looking, Robyn could feel the other girl growing tenser where she sat in the bed.

"Dr Hopper didn't feel either of those were necessary," Emma argued. "He said she was perfectly safe and she's been perfectly lucid since he gave her a prescription."

The blonde politician scoffed loudly as if her opinion meant more that of the licensed doctor she paid taxes to. "Well, clearly he's feeling biased. I think it would be safer for everyone, including herself, if she was at least properly restrained."

Hope nodded silently towards the bed and Emma sighed, realizing she meant for the sheriff to restrain her now. None too happy about it, she walked over to the bed and took hold of the brown leather straps that were tucked underneath, out of the way but always ready for use should a patient grow danger and restless when they were otherwise needed to be still.

"Please don't," Alice's pleaded softly, breaking Robyn's heart. She didn't try to move away or fight, which somehow made it even worse and Robyn hated having to sit and watch as Emma gently took hold of Alice's hand and lock her wrist into the leather cuff attached to the bed.

"I'm sorry," Emma mumbled to her before she walked around to the other side of the bed, passed Robyn and repeated the process with the other hand.

"Legs too, don't forget." Hope added, quite cheerfully considering the situation.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Robyn barked as Alice tried in vein to blink away her building tears. She watched in miserable silence as Emma did as she was bid while Robyn continued to rage at the new woman. "She's not a danger to anyone!"

"She almost killed my Sheriff, Robyn. What would you call that?" Hope asked.

"I'd call it, you being an overreacting bitch."

Hope narrowed her eyes at the woman, who just gave her own icy stare right back, unafraid and undisturbed where others would have backed down. "Well, Miss Sheridan, are the doctors at the Houston state psychiatric ward being 'overreacting bitches'? Because that's where this woman has escaped from. That's where the badge she was wearing came from," she explained, more to Emma than anyone else.

Robyn was dumb struck and found she had no answer. So she settled for another glare at the woman instead.

Sensing the end of the argument, Hope turned back towards Emma. "You'll be escorting her back there tomorrow, actually."

"Madame Mayor, please-."

"Please what?"

Like Robyn before her, Emma had no response, though she wished she did. Instead just sighed and nodded in miserable agreement.

With that, Hope turned her eyes back to a tearful Alice and smiled at her, an icy cruel thing if anyone had ever seen. "Welcome to Storybrooke, Alice. I'm just sorry that you couldn't stay to enjoy the town. It really is quite a lovely place."

None of the women said anything as Hope turned on her heel and left the room.

"You can't leave her locked up," Robyn told the sheriff the moment the Mayor left them in peace. "She isn't a danger to anyone."

"I know that, but what the Mayor says goes," Emma said with an apologetic look towards Alice. "I'm sorry, Alice. I really don't think you're a threat to anyone."

"She's not."

The three women turned towards the new voice that had joined the conversation. Standing in the open doorway, they saw Dr Hopper smiling in at them.

"She doesn't get a say in how I treat my patients," He said firmly. Though he spoke like a man still getting used to standing up for himself.

"It's not a say in how you're treating her, it's… She's treating it like a public safety issue." Emma corrected.

That made him falter. Hopper paused mid-step and frowned slightly as he looked at the young woman he had treated just this afternoon. "It's gonna be alright, Alice," Hopper promised her. "You remember what I told you to do if it started to get bad again?"

Alice sniffed and nodded. "Ye- Yeah. I actually already did it," she admitted with a teary smile. "It worked."

Hopper's face eased into a much more natural looking smile. "Good. That's really good, Alice. I'll be right back, okay?" He turned towards the sheriff. "Emma, can I have a talk with you in private?"

"Of course," Emma said, stepping away from the girls and following him into the hallway.

The moment she and the doctor were alone, he turned to her, an almost panic in his eyes. "We cannot send that girl back to that hospital," he told Emma almost desperately.

"If she escaped from there… Well, I have to bring her back." Emma explained weakly. She wasn't happy about it but if that was the case, then there was nothing for her to do. She couldn't argue on the side of someone who broke the law. She was Sheriff for goodness sake.

Hopper shook his head. "No, you can't, Emma. It… I looked up that place online." The balding red head reached into his pocket and pulled out several folded piece of papers that looked like they had been stored away in a rush. "That place is a literal hell."

Emma was hesitant, but she took the pages from him, one at a time, and began to read. She tried to skim through them but quickly became entrance in just how literal it seemed the good doctor was being. Her eyes widening at just the headlines alone.

_Nurse at Texas psychiatric hospital arrested for fifteen counts of torture and neglect of patients._

_Doctor at Houston psych ward convicted of twelve counts of abuse, rape and sodomy of female patients._

_Houston state hospital nearly shut down after numerous and severe health violations kills 8 patients and sickens dozen more._

"We'd be sending her back to a torture chamber," Hopper argued almost frantically. "It's a miracle she escaped that place in one piece. I'm actually surprised she's in such good condition at all."

Emma swallowed hard, unable to read anymore of the gruesome headlines. She folded up the papers in a rush and pushed them back at him. "But the Mayor-." She began.

"Emma, we can't," he practically begged. "My conscious would never allow me to send anyone back there. Let alone a girl like her. She doesn't belong in a place like that."

The blonde hesitated, then sighed loudly. She leaned back slightly, looking around the floors desk and back into the room. From the angle they were at, she could just about see where Robyn was loosening the straps on Alice's wrist. In fact, she undone them to the point they were practically rendered useless.

"...Guess Alice is staying in Storybrooke then…"

Please Review


	4. Chapter 4

Four Months Before The Wedding

Whoever invented ale deserved to have an arrow firmly lodged into both his eye sockets.

The brown eyed man groaned loudly, the sounds of an early morning in the forest, usually calming and peaceful, were now just an obnoxious clash of pointless chatter pounding in his head, as he rolled over on his bed roll. The birds chirping felt like an endless peck at his temples and even the gentle breeze of the wind sounded like the start of a storm slapping at his tent walls repeatedly.

And then, at that moment, he felt someone curl up beside him.

Not just someone

Her.

Oh, shit.

Roland squeezed his eyes shut, praying that he was wrong and that it was someone else, ANYONE else. But at the same time, he knew that perfume far too well. He knew the touch of her soft lotioned hands as she wrapped them around his strong waist and pulled herself closer against him. He even knew the goddam feel of her hair as it splayed out on his chest and up along his shoulder slightly.

"Sarah," Roland grumbled, the contents in his stomach dancing rather violently. "Sarah, you have to wake up."

The dark haired slender beauty ignored his pleas completely and merely clung to him even more tightly, not helping the situation any when she - either unknowingly or intentionally, he wasn't sure - ran her foot down his leg in a seductive manner. He tensed as she twisted slightly, rubbing the rest of her body against his side in a way that he was sure couldn't be accidental… At least not by a sober woman.

"Sarah, you gotta get up." He shook her shoulder, finally getting a verbal response from his bed partner when she moaned slightly at the disturbance. "Sarah, come on."

Sarah Nottingham finally blinked her pale green eyes open. She looked up and smiled sweetly at the man lying beside her. "Morning," she said with a long slow yawn, speaking in the same accent that was prevalent in this area of the Enchanted Forest. Suddenly Roland wanted to roll his eyes at her.

Really? Even her goddamn breath smelled perfect, right after a night of drinking no less.

"Last night was incredible," Sarah said with another slight moan. Whether it was from still waking herself up or something far less innocent, Roland couldn't be sure.

"It was," he said with the slur of someone who was both still half drunk as well as not fully awake, despite his best efforts. Which might explain his next, admittedly, not so carefully chosen comment. "But you can't get used to it."

"Mmm that's what you always say," she said with a content sigh as she cuddled closer to him, unbothered by his lack of subtle tact when it came to her dismissal.

She lazily traced the clear cut creases in his pronounced abs with one hand for a long moment before she reached up, lightly grabbing his own hand and navigating it up to cup her breast. The very same breast both his hand and mouth had been all over the previous night.

And several nights before that.

"I mean it," he said with an authority that had always been a natural part of him. He pulled his hand away for her chest and made a show of shuffling slightly, trying to put some space between them and make her listen. "We can't keep doing this. You're the Sheriff's wife."

While Sarah wasn't the wife of THE sheriff most associated with Roland's father - that particular Sheriff of Nottingham had made his home in Storybrooke some time ago and was the current owner of the only strip club the small magical town possessed - she was still the current Sheriff's wife. And anyone with any sense could tell you it wasn't smart to be playing around with a married woman, let alone a woman married to the local authority.

The green eyed woman looked up at him again and he groaned as he saw her purse her lips at him.

Yeah. That was never a good sign.

"I know that you're still hungover, but maybe try to remember that YOU came into the tavern I was at. YOU told me how much you missed me. YOU told me how beautiful I was and YOU brought me back to your camp..." She stated.

Roland winced at the many reminders. "I apologize but that doesn't change the fact that we have to stop this."

"I don't want an apology, Roland! I want you to quit acting like I'm some bloody harlot who seduced you and to stop making it seem like I'm the only one responsible for us ending up in bed together!" Sarah's voice had turned from sleepy and seductive to sharp and serious in a matter of seconds.

"I don't think you're some 'bloody harlot' and I know you're not the only one responsible for this, okay. I own up to my mistakes." Roland said, sitting up properly now.

That was the wrong thing to say.

"That's all I am to you, a mistake?!" Sarah snapped.

"That's not what I meant." Roland said quickly.

But rather than listen to his excuses, she swiftly pulled away from him and got up from his bedroll. Once she was on her feet, she began yanking on her skirts, all the while as she glared at him. Despite the angry look on her face, Roland fought to keep his eyes from travelling down over her bare chest.

"You know you might wanna be your father," she snapped as she searched for and pulled on her blouse. "But you still got a long way to go in the honor department, Roland."

She turned away from him and grabbed her corset, barely bothering to tighten it. Instead she merely wrapped the laces together enough so that it wouldn't slip off her when she walked.

Roland glared at her from his 'bed' and turned away, grabbing his own clothes as well. Quickly he began dressing as fast as he could, yanking on his trousers before he stood up, all the while still fuming. After all, she knew how she felt about his father. She knew far too much about everything actually. Things that were usually told when he was a few glasses of ale deep into his conversation and his tongue became as lose as his common sense. She knew how much he struggled to live up to his name and legacy, how much he struggled to stay honorable especially after… After what had happened.

But of course, she didn't know that particularly dark secret. No one did. Even in his drunkest and stupidest state, Roland wasn't fool enough to be blurting that one out to a casual fling, or anyone for that matter. For even out of his mind, he knew if anyone found out what Roland had done...

"Too far," he suddenly barked at his sometimes lover.

"Oh I'm sorry did I make a 'mistake'?" Sarah said as she quickly pulled on her boots, once again barely bothering to lace them up and turning towards the entrance only to pause just before leaving. "He has a lead as to where your camp is, again. I'd move it within the next week." She said shortly, all without looking back at him.

Then without another word said, she turned and stormed out into the early morning light, making her way back to her husband. And leaving Roland alone.

Roland sighed, rubbing his temples tightly with his fingers for a moment. He just needed some time to clear his head before he faced the rest of the world - as well as give Sarah a nice head start to get away. Once he was no longer seeing red in his vision, he pulled on a simple forest green tunic with a white shirt underneath, grabbed his father's bow from where it sat by the side, slung his quiver over, onto his back and walked out into the light blue sky of the early morning. Hopefully no one was up yet and he had gotten away with-

"Morning, Roland."

Shit.

The brown eyed man gave a half hearted wave to a smug looking Little John, who already had a fire going in one of the opens areas in the middle of camp. Rotating over the top of the hot flames, was some kind of poultry on a spit that was momentarily forgotten as the older man now put his focus on the boy he had practically raised since returning to the Enchanted Forest.

"Go ahead, say whatever you want," Roland muttered as he moved over and sat down on a log close to the fire. He would have rather gone in the other direction until Little John stopped giving him that look, but he was also very aware of the early morning chill that was creeping over the exposed areas of his skin.

"I'm not saying anything."

Roland moaned, lowering his head. "You're saying it all with your eyes."

Little John chuckled as he handed the boy a plain cup, pouring some cows milk from a fancy leather wineskin. Both the wineskin and the milk had been stolen from Prince John's prized Heffer, and were kept safely in the cooler that Roland had 'borrowed' from Hook the last time he had visited him. He doubt the older man minded. And if he did, well, it was only a quick portal jump back to Sherwood.

They may have been outlaws living in the woods but, like his father, if Roland could make his men's lives a little easier by them actually being able to save and store what they hunted instead of getting sick from meat left out in the sun or having to waste food because it had rotted in the sun, he would do it. Many commented that was part of what made him a good leader to their band, but Roland simple thought it the most basic of human acts. Who wouldn't want their friends to avoid sickness whenever possible?

"I'm not saying anything," John argued again as Roland took a long swig of milk.

When he lowered his cup, he stared down at the little bit left, splashing against the sides and stirring slightly even in his steady grip. It was strange how this had become such a big deal for him, but everyday since the night they got back in the enchanted forest, his five year old self had stayed up constantly, sobbing throughout the night. He had cried about how 'his papa told him to drink milk' and they had none readily available like it had been in Storybrooke so he was unable to grow strong like his papa. For whatever reason, that had seemed so important to him, the thought of not having milk like his father had told him, left him both horrified and sick to his stomach. And the worst part was he felt so helpless, because back in Storybrooke milk was just another thing but back in the Enchanted Forest… Not so much.

After the endless torment of the young boys sobs, John had finally begun to risk capture in order to fill up his wineskin from the unsuspecting farmers around Nottingham. At first, he had only planned to do it for a while until Roland settled back into his old life in the forest and no longer needed the milk every day. But that day never came. Each night when John prepared to say enough was enough, he found himself giving up and fetching more milk, ignoring the risks and the problems in his way, keeping it up all the way until Roland was old enough to steal it for himself, passing the task on like a mantel of sorts.

But, every day, for the past twenty five years, he had started the day with a glass of milk. Just like his father wanted him too back in New York.

Roland sighed, turning away from the milk as he put his face in his hand. "I slept with Sarah. Again."

"You did. Congratulations are in order, I guess." Seeing the sharp and puzzled look on Roland's face, he merely shrugged. "She's hot," he said simply.

"I slept with a married woman." Roland repeated, this time slower incase John had missed it the first time. "Not only that but I got DRUNK and slept with a married woman and I-" He cut himself off and looked down at the ground, shame filling him to the brim. "I'm pretty sure I spent some of the gold that was supposed to go to Willis at the tavern."

"First off; Willis is a drunk who spends the money we give him on drinks at the tavern and women at the brothel anyway," John told him. "You just saved the man a step."

"And what about Sarah? She's married." He stressed, like he wanted John to tell him off for it.

"She is. She also has a chest you could get lost in."

"John, I'm serious!"

"So am I. You've seen those things more upclose than I have. Look…" John abandoned his seat closest to the fire and sat down next to his best friends son. "You know what the problem with a lot of those living here is? You're all too caught up in true love and soulmates and the like. So instead of just enjoying yourself with a beautiful woman, you feel guilty because she isn't your 'true love'. Unless of course she is…"

Roland thought for a moment, pursing his lips as he racked his brain. Sure he had fun with the green eyed woman, a lot of fun as a matter of fact. She was fun, flirty, incredibly beautiful… But there were no sparks of love flying between them, there was no getting lost in one another's eyes, there was… nothing, truthfully. There never had been and no amount of sleeping together would make that spark appear.

"No she isn't," he admitted. "But that doesn't make me feel better, I just-... I feel like I'm letting him down. That everytime I get drunk or I sleep with her, hell everytime I forget to say thank you to someone, he's looking down and disappointed in me. I feel like everything I do disappoints him," he finished with his eyes cast downward.

And it wasn't just for this, but for all the mistakes he knew that not only his father, but also his mother would never make themselves. They would never get blackout drunk. They would never sleep with a married- Well… Okay, but technically it wasn't real adultery. Plus Sarah wasn't his soulmate who had thought her husband was dead. But nonetheless, they wouldn't sleep with a married woman, they wouldn't use money earmarked for charity to drink, they wouldn't-...

No. No! He had to stop thinking about that. If he thought about it, he would just go down that same rabbit hole he had fallen in when it first happened, and Roland couldn't let that happen again.

While Roland mentally punished himself for his failures, Little John frowned at the young man sitting by his side in silence.

He had loved Robin. Even after all these years, just hearing his name twisted a knife in his heart so intense it hurt to breath, but God damn it, if he hadn't set nearly impossible standards for his children to live up to, even if he had done it unintentionally. His infallible honor, his code, his morality… His children had grown up hearing just how perfect and wonderful the famous Robin Hood had been and the two Hood children were killing themselves trying to follow in his footsteps ever since.

Shaking off his own thoughts, John clapped the younger man on the shoulder, waiting until he looked at him before he spoke. "Roland, I know you idolize the man but your father wasn't perfect. He had his faults too."

"What, did he only give someone the shirt off his back but not his pants?" The brown eyed man muttered miserably.

"No, if someone was bad off enough, he'd strip damn near down to his skivvies." John ignored the eyeroll of the new leader of the Merry Men. "But he WAS a bit of a martyr. When your mom first died, he used to carry around a bottle in his quiver and would take a drink when he thought no one was looking. He damn near starved himself once when game was scarce because of his damn code that told him he couldn't steal for himself and turns out that his code applied to food as well. He thought he was married and was still shacking up with Regina. Hell, he even got a woman pregnant out of wedlock. Yes he didn't mean it but it still happened," he added when he saw the sharp glare from Roland. "But what your dad did doesn't matter. What YOU do doesn't matter. What does matter is that every day he strived to be better than the last. If you're doing that, if you drink one less glass of ale or you spend one less gold piece that would have gone to the poor, he would be proud of you. He IS proud of you, Roland. I know it."

Tears flooded his eyes just over halfway through Little John's speech. He quickly blinked them away before the large man could notice him but the tears probably weren't for the reason John would think they were.

All those things his father had done? All those incidences John had just listed? A mere drop of water compared to the ocean of dishonesty that Roland had on his conscience.

Perhaps it was finally time to explain what he had done. Perhaps it was time to finally come clean… His father would have. The moment he had discovered what he did, Robin would have told the truth, no matter what the consequences were…

Roland took a deep breath, fiddling his hands together around the cup he was still clutching. According to the Merry Men, that had actually been something that Marian had done when she was feeling anxious. "John, I um…. I have to tell you something. Something I did. Something… Really... Awful."

"What is it?"

Another deep breath.

"I um-."

!CRASH!

Before Roland could get any further with his confession, a bright beaming circle of light appeared in front of them with a dramatic flash. It began spinning like a wheel but stayed hovering on the spot just a few inches above the ground, it's light cutting through blades like a ghost through a wall. It was an unmistakable sight, though it had once been rare to find: It was a portal.

The two men jumped up from their seats. Roland quickly reading his bow while John grabbed his quarterstaff as, seconds later, the rest of the Merry Men hurried out their tents, drawn in by the sound of the sharp noise rousing any who had still been sleeping. Each and every one of them came out with their arrows nocked, swords drawn, and expressions on for those ready for a fight.

Not a full moment later, they were all caught off guard as Robyn stumbled through the portal with a magical sounding 'zaping' sound following close behind. Her face was smudged with makeup scraped across her cheeks. At first Roland was confused as to why she was in such a state when he noticed the tears streaming down along with the makeup. As well as that, her hair was disheveled, her clothing slightly twisted and her breath coming out in desperate and terrified pants of someone who had rushed all the way here - which was odd considering she had come via magical portal.

Immediately the men and Roland lowered their weapons at the sight of their leader's younger sister. But they didn't have any time to relax before taking in her disgruntled appearance.

"Robyn, what's going on?" asked Roland as Robyn hurried straight over to him. "Is everything alright, are you hurt?"

"She took her!" Robyn gasped desperately, reaching up and grabbing onto his arms painfully tightly, digging her nails into his exposed skin.

"Who took who?"

"Alice!"

!Zap!

And just like that, Regina and Zelena stumbled through the ame portal, each of them just as unkempt as Robyn. As they stepped closer, Roland saw that Zelena was holding tightly to Merlin's wand like she was afraid someone was going to steal it, and they were soon followed by none other than Emma and Hook, Neal and Alex, Snow and Charming then Rogers and finally Henry and his small family. And while some didn't look quite as bad as the others, they were all nowhere near their usual calm and collected selves.

"Jesus, Robyn, is all of Storybrooke coming?" Roland demanded, not quite comfortable with this large a crowd in the camp. Especially if, as Sarah told him, the sheriff already had an idea as to where his hideaway was.

"Hope took Alice!" Robyn shouted frantically, ignoring the sarcastic comment he had made as Zelena closed the portal behind the last of the arrivals. "She kidnapped her, she- she made a portal and took her and now she's gone!"

Rolands eyes grew round and wide as he looked from his sister to the rest of the group. No… No, this was mad. Hope couldn't have… No... That would mean Roland…

"I know- I know you're still mad at me, but I need your help," Robyn begged. "I need- I need you to help me get my fiancée back. Please, Roland, she- She's probably scared, and she's alone and I- I don't know what Hope is doing to her." Her voice cracked and, despite her best efforts, she trailed into a series of sobs. It was so un-Robyn like for her to be this open in front of so many people, but she didn't care and made no attempt to hold back anymore.

Roland watched with a broken heart as the guilt crashed over him in waves that were soon overwhelming. It wasn't long before it felt like the pressure was drowning him. He hadn't wanted any of this. He didn't mean for it to happen. Not to any of them…

But things had gone too far now. It was too late to back out of what he had done. And too late to admit it, either.

"I'm not mad at you," he assured his sister, wrapping her in a warm hug, letting her cry on his shoulder. He glanced around and saw the expressions on the other men's faces and knew exactly what they were thinking. This was the first time he - or anyonewho had traveled from their home in the Enchanted Forest to that little corner of Maine - had seen Robyn this broken down. It was extremely unnerving for everyone. "I love you, Robyn, and I'm gonna help you."

"We'll help you, too." John added, with muttered agreements from the rest of the men as well. Robyn sniffed and reached up to wipe away her tears as she looked up at the determined man by her brothers side. "You're as much a Merry Man as the rest of us, and we help our own."

For the first time in days, a smile managed to break through Robyn's tears. She had spent a few weeks with the Merry Men and her brother during her summer vacations when she was in school and she had even lived with them for a year or so after she graduated and was still finding her place in the world. But despite the many time she spent with them, she had never felt like she had truly belonged. No matter how accepting and inviting they had made it for her, it was impossible for her to not feel out of place somehow.

So hearing the second in command, her father's best friend, tell her that she was instantly considered as one of them? That meant more to her than she could have possibly put into words.

"Do you know where Hope took her?" Roland asked looking between Robyn and the group, trying not to catch his voice as he said her name.

"I tracked her magic. She's definitely somewhere here in the Enchanted Forest," Zelena answered.

"Do we have anything of Alice's? If we do, we can use a tracking spell to find her in no time." One of the Merry Men called out.

"Hope did something to Alice. We're not sure what, maybe a poison of some sorts or something similar. Either way, a regular tracking spell won't work anymore," Regina told them. She was physically shaking, looking like she was ready to lunge the second she caught sight of the spoiled daughter. Taking a breath, Regina forced herself to stay calm and looked towards Roland with pleading eyes. "This is why we came to you. You're the best tracker any of us know, even better than Snow. Plus you've lived here almost your whole life. You know the area better than anyone."

"So what do you say, Roland. Do you think you could track her down?" David asked. He was holding Snow's hand the whole time and Roland couldn't help but notice that they were both squeezing onto each other so tightly, their hands were white in certain places and bruising red in others from the pressure.

Roland didn't hesitate to nod his head. "Yeah. Yeah, of course, I can track her but I need at least some kind of starting point; the whole Enchanted Forest is a pretty large area to search."

"Okay here's what we're going to do," Snow said, stepping forward slightly. She had a firm expression on her face but she couldn't hide the deep misery in her eyes, knowing it was her granddaughter who was causing pain for so many others. "We are going to go start at mine and David's castle. There's a chance that's where she went. I mean, it's somewhere familiar to her, it's somewhere… Somewhere that means a lot to her family." She finished.

Emma and Hook finally glanced away, looking down at the words the princess said. Roland glanced over and saw the pirate reach around and wrap his arm around his wife's waist. It was subtle, but he even saw him mouth the words; 'it's alright, Love' softly to her, and the guilt inside him settled even heavier on the leader of the Merry Men.

"If she's not there, then we'll have to split up and start searching the areas close by. If anyone gets ANY clues, any at all, report them to Roland." David finished, still squeezing Snow's hand but, like his wife, he managed to see completely in control, if not for the devastation hiding behind his soft green eyes.

With quick nods and murmurs of agreement, Snow and David gave their own curt nod in response. With nothing left to say, the two of them and stepped back into the line as Regina raised her hands to transport them all away.

"Wait, wait, wait! Hold up a second! It's fine, I'll ride to the castle," Roland said hastily, stepping back.

"Bloody hell, boy, we don't have time for this!" Rogers snapped, rounding on him. He'd been very quiet since his arrival and now Roland could see why. He looked seconds away from losing whatever patients he had been holding back and glared at Roland in a way the younger man had never seen before. "Alice is missing!" He shouted.

Unfortunately Roland was in no mood to be sensitive to the older man's pain right now. "No one is using magic on me!" Roland barked back, the natural authoritative tone he has perfected over the years almost making the one handed pirate step back, but only for a second before he re-found his anger, powered by his parental love and fear for Alice.

"I don't care if I have to turn you into a bloody toad and carry you in my pocket! We aren't wasting time walking! That's my daughter out there!" Rogers shouted angrily.

"You raise your voice to him again and YOU'LL be the one turned into a toad!" Regina yelled, being surprisingly short with the man who had been her close friend back in Hyperion Heights.

She didn't care how long it had been. She didn't care if, legally, he had been nothing more than her boyfriends child, she didn't even care if she only saw him a few weeks out of the year while he was growing up... He was a part of Robin. He would have been her step son had his father lived, and she would have been his mother.

And no one talked to her would-be son like that.

The Merry Men all seemed to second Regina's attitude and all of them shifted just enough to remind the pirate that he was not only talking to their leader and the son of their first 'prince of thieves', but that they were more than capable with the weapons they currently held in their hands. They shifted even further, making it crystal clear that none of them would hesitate to use whatever they had in order to defend Roland against him.

Rogers glared at the young thief angrily, but then glance at the others from the corner of his eye. He hesitated, like he might actually risk an altercation with them. But then he felt his body slump slightly. Not only did he know he was hopelessly outnumbered, but it would do Alice no good if he - or anyone else - allowed themselves to be distracted so easily. She need them right now and they didn't have time for anything else. So with those thoughts in mind, Rogers pulled away from the angry men and stormed away from them all.

While Rogers backed down, Regina turned towards Roland. Her face was a far cry from what it had looked like when she was threatening Rogers. "Roland, I know you hate magic, but you can trust me," she promised him. "It's not going to do anything but transport you back to Snow's castle with us." She hesitated, leaning forward slightly. "Time is of the essence right now. Every second could count here."

In the very back of his mind, Roland knew she was right. There was really no danger in transporting and this was a tense emergency if there ever was one...

But it was still magic! And all magic was bad. All magic came with a price. Magic had killed his mother, magic had killed his father, magic almost dragged Roland to Neverland and his father's soul to the Underworld, magic had even almost killed him (he still occasionally had nightmares about his father's arrow coming within half an inch of his face, sometimes only stopping in time because he woke up before it could hit).

No. Roland knew magic, ALL magic, wasn't worth the price it came with. Whether it be light, dark, or whatever. No matter what Regina or his sister or even Alice said to him, it was not something you trifled with, even for things that were supposedly 'simple'.

And he wasn't being bias about it either. Even if Roland hadn't lost his parents and innocence to the effects of magic, he would have still grown up with a strong distrust of magic, not only because of the people raised him but because of where he had grown up in the first place. The people in Nottingham and Sherwood harbored a deep suspicion of those who wield the mystic arts, the Merry Men very much included.

Even his father, Robin Hood himself, had his hesitations regarding magic to a certain degree. He didn't hate or distrust those who used it the way some people did - how could he, when his soulmate was the one and only Evil Queen of all people - but he did have strong reservations about magic itself. He didn't discriminate, but he certainly never dabbled in magic unless he absolutely had too.

Roland was far, far less trusting of magic than his father had been. And for good reason.

Magic was dangerous.

Magic killed loved ones.

And Roland Marius Hood did. Not. Use. Magic.

"I'll ride," The young brown eyed leader said again, with a tone that made the finality clear to anyone within earshot. It signaled the end of the conversation. He ignored the pleading in his sister eyes as she watched him half turn away. "My horse is the fastest steed in all of Sherwood Forest. By the time you finish searching the castle for Hope, I'll be waiting at the gates." He said, wondering if he was saying it to assure Robyn or himself.

Regina bit her lip and he had a fleeting feeling she was about to continue arguing despite his clear intentions. But then she surprised him by just nodding her head calmly. "We'll see you at the castle," the Queen said softly.

"Wait," Hook muttered, breaking the moments warm silence between them. "Isn't that my cooler?"

Then in a poof of purple smoke, they were gone.

**Present Day, Chicago**

The brown eyed man sat up in his bed, frowning at the shabby looking room around him. Paint was peeling off the walls, clothes bunched up into piles on the floor, a rather unpleasant scent of beer and smoke and sex surrounding him, sticking to every surface and in every direction he turned. Outside, police sirens rang loudly and clearly like an unwanted alarm clock, quickly followed by people shouting at one another while their dogs barked aggressively at their side…

Where the hell was he?

WHO the hell was he?

Shit.

He reached up and ran his hands over his face, hoping that maybe it was just the after effects of him waking up that was currently clouding his mind to a clear thought or memory. But no, after several moments of massaging his eyelids and running his palm down along the stubble along his cheek, he knew it wasn't going to get any better for him. And the longer he sat there, the more terrified he became as the panic began to truly settle down, smothering him in a blanket of mystery and fear.

He couldn't remember who he was. He couldn't remember where he was. Or how he got here. Or his name. Or age. Or anything. It was all just… Not there. Nothing… A blank slate that was looming over him like a threat.

Panic crept up on him, threatening to take over, but he swallowed it back. Despite how much he wished he could, he knew he couldn't really panic. He couldn't let himself lose control like that, panicking would just make things worse and once he got worked up, he didn't have the confidence he would be able to ease his way back down again.

The man got out of the rather springy bed and looked down at himself. He just had on a plain white T-shirt and forest green shorts with a distinctive tattoo as well on his right forearm. He brought his arm up to his face to examine it, discovering that it was a plain black shield surrounding a lion. It was the kind of thing that one might see in one of those fantasy type TV shows.

He frowned at the skin as he reached up and ran his hand overtop of the long since dried, shining black ink. He began tracing the outline of the roaring animal with the tips of his fingers, willing it to remind him of something, to make some memory of its origin click in his mind like switching on a light bulb... But nothing. No flood of memories, no hints of deja vu as to what it was about, no flashes of even getting the damned thing.

Terrific…

He took another deep breath, letting his arm drop back to his side. Another string of panic began to threaten to make it's rise but once again he pushed it back down out of the way. Instead of looking at the tattoo anymore - it was useless anyway - he began to gently pat himself down. He wasn't completely sure what he was looking for at this point, but was pleased to note that he did not feel any injuries, serious or otherwise. There were no cuts, no wounds, not even a fairly painful bruise on any part of his body… The pleasure soon vanished, however, as he realised that this was just a further nothing of something that could have outwardly told him something he had missed. Either how he would have gotten this way or even maybe who he was.

Suddenly an idea popped into his head. ID. He had to have a form of ID on him or maybe a phone or something else with his name inside. People don't just wake up in strange places with no memories and no history or life, and if they did, then they definitely keep their phone and money close at hand.

He hurried over to the cluttered bed stand sitting close by and rummaged through the trash on top of it. Nothing but some empty bottles, a condom wrapper - thank god the actual condom was nowhere to be found - an overfilled ashtray with both tobacco and marijuana stubs and ashes in them, and just an assortment of other trash from wrappers to cans to things he couldn't quite comfortably name.

Then he opened the actual drawer beneath it and jumped several feet back as he caught sight of the object safely tucked away inside.

Why the hell did he have a gun?!

He took a few shaky breaths in order to lower his racing heart and calm himself before he slowly stepped back forward again. He moved slowly and with care, approaching the drawer like a wild tiger, as if the gun would suddenly start shooting of its own accord.

Still being careful, he reached in and grabbed hold of the black metal weapon by its tip, holding it like a disgusting age old lunch that was beginning to rot. Quickly turning around, he set the weapon down on the bed, backing away from it again as if it were apt to explode. Only when he was safely away from the gun, did he turn back to the draw and begin digging through the rest of it.

More empty bottles, unused condoms, a pack of cigarettes, a baggie of weed, a box of bullets, and, finally, a black leather wallet with a metal chain attached to it. Finally! That was more like it! He quickly grabbed hold of the precious object and opened it in one swift move, gazing down at the ID staring back up at him.

Roland Marcus Locs.

The name didn't seem familiar. At all. Nor the, thankfully handsome, face it showed sitting beside it. It was like this person was a stranger to him. A stranger who just happened to look pretty damn similar.

As Roland continued to stare down at the ID's picture, struggling as he tried to will himself to remember something from it, preferably who he was, there was a suddenly and loud pounding sound on the door interrupted his thoughts and made him jump. He dropped the wallet and looked up sharply over his shoulder, still willing his break to just start working again on its own already.

"Open the door!" A booming deep voice ordered him. Another round of pounding on the wooden surface. "Now, Locs!"

Shit.

Roland swallowed hard. He glanced back around, eyeing the gun on the bed as the shouting and slamming continued behind him. Maybe this was why he had it…

So, unsure of what else to do, Roland took another deep breath to calm his nerves and prepare himself for what was to come next. He grabbed the gun from the bed and took the safety off, making his way towards his front door and discovering the rest of the apartment was just as shabby as his bedroom. He didn't know who he was, but he was gonna have to clean this up when he had a free moment. Whoever he really was, it was no excuse for letting it get bad. Really, this was disgusting.

Swallowing again (why the hell was his throat still staying so damn dry?!), Roland grabbed hold of the front door and wrenched it open, not giving himself any time to second guess what was about to happen. If he did, he had no idea what he would do. So, with the door open, he lifted his arm, taking aim on the man who was waiting on the other side, his fist coming to a jerking stop mid slam.

"Shit, Roe!" The man yelled, jumping back from the door and holding both his hands up. He had dark green eyes and a shaved head, wearing a Orange and Blue shirt with a picture of a Bear on the front and dark colored jeans. "It's me, I was just fucking around! Chill!"

"Who are you?" Roland barked at the stranger without lowering his weapon. "What do you want?!"

"It- it's me, man! It's Sammy! I was just messing around! Dude, put the gun down!"

Roland hesitated for a moment. He let his eyes begin searching over the face of the, understandably, stunned man. From what little he could see and tell, Roland would guess that he seemed to be telling the truth.

So, slowly, he lowered the gun, putting it in his waistband for safe keeping but intentionally leaving the safety off. He would need it that way if it turned out he was wrong and he needed a quick reaction.

Sammy took a deep breath as he walked into the apartment, shutting the door behind him without taking his eyes off of Roland. "What the hell is up with you man? You ain't never been this jumpy before."

So this man - this 'Sammy' - apparently knew him. He had known his last name and part of his first name as well too. So he must know him quite well.

"You know me?" Roland asked the tall man who suddenly did a double take and looked at him as if he'd grown a third head.

"Shit yeah I know you, man. We went to the same damn high school together until we dropped out! You've been my best friend since we were robbing convenience stores together. Come on! What is the matter with you today?!" The guy half snapped, half yelped with worry.

Wait... Wait… What the hell did he do?

"I… I'm a thief?"

Welp, it would explain the gun a little more...

The man's worry eased back slightly, replaced with a smirk as he took in the confused expression on his so called friends face. "You run the best damn crew in the Southside," he said confidently. It was then that he finally realized what exactly his friend was asking him and his face fell completely, his smugness replaced by horrified confusion. "Do… Roland, do you not remember who you are?"

He shook his head in reply. "No. I don't- I don't remember who I am, who you are, my memories, my damn life…" He bit back tears as the reality of the situation hit him. "I don't remember anything."

"Oh shit, Roe… did you hit your head or something?"

"That's just it, I don't know. I mean nothing hurts, there's no blood, no bruises on me… I- was I with you last night?"

He nodded back at him. "We watched the Cubs game here. We had a few beers then I took the bus home around one in the morning. You seemed perfectly fine then." Sammy bit his lip, genuinely concerned for his friend that he had known… Well as far back as he could remember. "You want me to take you to a hospital?"

Roland nodded, relieved to at least have a friend here to help out, even if it did nothing to jog his memories back to him. Rubbing the back of his neck he turned and pointed back to the bedroom. "Yeah I think I need to. Lemme go get dressed first."

He disappeared back into his room quickly and as soon as he shut the door behind him he tossed the gun back onto his bed once more, making sure to put the safety back on it first. With that, he focused back on the situation at hand and the not-so-stranger waiting for him just in the other room. His… Friend. Apparently.

That was something. If nothing else, he now knew Roland had friends. He had friends who knew him, who were close enough to come over and watch, he assumed, some kind of sports team with. That was comforting and he told himself that it was a sign that he was going to be alright.

He stripped his shirt off, looking down at his body once more, double checking that there really were no obvious wounds he had missed from before. But after a thorough search, he concluded there really wasn't anything.

There was, however, several more tattoos instead. Among the included two crossed arrows on his upper left shoulder with a capital M above them and a capital R in olde English script below… M and R... M and R… He pursed his lips again.

Okay, Roland was missing all his memories and didn't know much about himself, but from the little he had seen and heard, he didn't seem like the type to make a big declaration for someone by getting their initials permanently added onto his skin. At least he hoped he wasn't the type. Maybe they were the initials of his children instead? Or maybe his parents, or siblings, or two of his closest friends perhaps?

He would ask Sammy about it. Surely he would know.

Among the other tattoos, there was also two blocks of writing on his arm written inside a scroll with forest green ink. Very fancy compared to the other tattoos.

As he read the words inked on his arms, he couldn't help but roll his eyes at them. Oh God, he thought to himself. Could someone please tell Roland he wasn't THAT moronic to get something so stupid in, what had to have been, a moment of insane drunkenness.

 _"In solid content together they lived,_  
With all their yeomen gay;  
They lived by their hands, without any lands,  
And so they did many a day.

 _But now to conclude, an end I will make_  
In time, as I think it good,  
For the people that dwell in the North can tell  
Of Marian and bold Robin Hood."

Great. He had gotten some feminine love poem about some fictional characters permanently embedded in his arm. Awesome. Yeah, he could see why his drunk self was sure he'd never regret THAT little piece for sure.

Shaking his head at what he was sure was a tattoo he had gotten either for being so drunk he thought it would be funny, or when he lost one hell of a bet, he put aside that problem for his more immediate one. Pulling on a clean brown t-shirt, and slipping out the little arrowhead necklace he wore, (seriously, what the hell was it with him and arrows?) along with a clean pair of jeans and some comfortable sneakers (thankfully with no arrow relation attached to them). Once he was ready, Roland head back out to where his friend was still waiting for him. On the way, he found a pair of keys hanging by the door and instinctively stuffed those back into his pocket, not long before he found a phone he must have been charging close by the door.

With his wallet into his pocket and his phone and keys now safely following along side it, Roland and his 'old' friend, left the shabby little apartment together and started downstairs where a car was waiting for them.

The drive to the hospital was mostly filled with Roland asking Sammy a series of questions about his life. Including who he was, where he had come from, if he had any family or other friends (possibly with the initials R and M…).

As it turned out, Roland was an orphan; his parents had just dropped him off at a fire station when he was three weeks - so much for the idea the two initials on his arm was his parents. After all, why would he want to get a tattoo commemorating the two people who had abandoned him? At least not unless the initials were a reminder of how crappy some people could be in life or a personal hit list.

Roland forced himself to smirk at his private joke. But even he couldn't see the funny side in anything right now.

He lived in Chicago, a rather poor area of Southside to be more specific, far from the downtown tourist traps. He had lived there his whole life, no siblings (not a surprise considering the whole orphaning part), no children, no wife or girlfriend, although Sammy joked with him, commenting that with Rolands 'game' and looks, he had more than his fair share of one night stands. But apparently none close enough warrant getting their initials engraved onto his skin. The worry over the initials was beginning to be very distracted. So much so, that Roland wasn't even sure if he liked the idea that he was apparently such a player or not.

With no other leads as to what the initials could be - and finding himself increasingly more unwilling to ask - Roland pushed onto the next question. He decided to quiz his friend about what Sammy had said earlier. About him running a 'crew' and robbing convenience stores.

The green eyed man just smirked at him and said, while they still did their old tricks every now and then to keep their skills sharp, they had evolved from their old stomping grounds.

"To banks?" Roland asked instantly, an odd feeling building inside of him.

Sammy shook his head. Apparently they weren't quite there yet. Instead it was more a case of purse snatches. Muggings. Hold ups. Even going so far as to steal the petty cash the beggars on the street earned. But they weren't reckless about it. They didn't bother in the tourist areas or where the wealthier people in the city live. Those people were too smart to carry cash on them, not to mention the cops were much more likely to investigate if one of them reported being stolen from. As for the poor and destitute people around here, well, here it was a dog eat dog world, apparently.

It had been Rolands idea, as a matter of fact, to target the dregs of society. And he had a crew of guys loyal to him that helped him do it every single day.

Huh. That… Huh...

He was a thief. Who stole from the poor to make himself rich.

A strange sort of pride began filling him from the knowledge that he had apparently orchestrated and led this gang of men to go stealing on a daily, if not weekly basis. He felt badass about it. He felt hard and tough. He felt damn smug. He felt…

Not quite right.

Like everything he was feeling was wrong and didn't fit right, like it was somehow artificial or something. Like something inside of him knew he wasn't being honest, even with himself, about the pride he felt about his apparent job. It was like someone had taken someone else's ideas and happiness in something dirty and was trying to push it on him, only he was so uncomfortable with it, it wasn't fitting.

But he set those thoughts and feelings aside just as Sammy pulled into the hospital parking lot. Roland had bigger issues to worry about than coming down with a sudden attack of conscience.

As he stepped out of the car, he just so happened to glance down at his feet and cocked his head when he saw a forest brown feather tucked under his shoe. It's soft edging was fluttering in the wind as best as it could, like it was trying to escape his foot but unable to quite break free. Roland bent down to pick it up, pinching it carefully between his fingers as he began examining the feather for a moment. He was almost lost in its intricate detail when Sammy called out for him to move it and broke his concentration.

Trying not to appear too annoyed by the interruption, Roland reminded himself why they were here in the first place. He had amnesia. A serious case of it. And he needed help. Now that he remembered that, he simply let the feather fall from his grip, not giving a second thought to the brown feather that had appeared before him, almost as if by magic.

Meanwhile, at the exact same time, in a nameless tavern in a nameless afterworld, a blue eyed outlaw frowned from the position he stood at. He watched closely as his son threw away the gift that he had sent down, ignoring the very thing his own father had sent to him in order to try and get him to remember… Well, everything… Because he had to remember.

Before it was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The text of "Robin Hood and Maid Marian was taken from the website of the University of Rochester.


	5. Chapter 5

The group sat around the heavily decorated wooden table, scenes of early battles engraved on the old wood in front of them in fine detail. Roland had kept his word, appearing at the gate with his small but speedy silver mare beneath him before the rest of them had even finished searching the castle. His Merry Men all kept watch at various entrances and exits but it seemed unlikely that either woman would appear to any of them now.

Throughout their long hours of search - sometimes doubling back on themselves and checking over a couple of the rooms three times just to be sure - they found no trace of Hope or Alice inside the stone walls. Not that there had been much of a chance that the kidnapper and her victim would have been hanging around in the throne room, just waiting for the factions of family to arrive and catch them, but many of them had held out hope regardless and were now suffering the strong effects of a might let down, heavy enough to weigh down on them like a crushing bruise to their hearts.

"Do you know why Hope brought her back here?" asked Roland. "Why didn't she just keep her in Storybrooke somewhere?"

"Magic is powerful in Storybrooke," Regina told the thief. "But it's even more powerful here. It's an entire realm of magic, not just one little town. Whatever Hope plans to do to Alice, she needs her full magical strength to do it. And whatever she plans to do…" The Queen paused and glanced over at her nervous looking Niece. "It's bad."

Robyn swallowed hard, looking between the people around her, from the guilt ridden expressions Emma and Hook to the increasingly growing frustration on Rogers. When no one said anything for a dragged out moment, Robyn spoke up. "Well that's the solution then. We go find Hope, force her to tell us where she has Alice, and stop her before she does anything to her."

"How do you expect to find her if we can't even find Alice?" Zelena asked softly, knowing her daughter was already on edge as it was.

"More important than that, what do you plan to do to get Hope to tell us anything once you get her?" Snow demanded, frowning suspiciously at the young archer.

Everyone looked between the two women, the table suddenly growing very tense but the young woman gave no answer. And that was answer enough. Robyn's solid silence screamed volumes that words could never reach.

"No," the princess said sharply, unable to help the trembling in her voice. "You aren't hurting her."

"Give us a chance to talk to her," Neal begged on behalf of his niece.

"She has my daughter," Rogers argued with the heroes, his voice sounding icy cold before raising to something close to a shout. "She plans to kill her. Right now, Hopes safety isn't my bloody concern."

"Aye, but it is mine!" Hook barked at his twin, slamming his fist on the table surface right over the knight Lancelot's carved face. "And no one is hurting her!"

"You really think she's just gonna tell us where Alice is if we just ask her nicely?" Robyn snapped back at the dark haired pirate, slamming both her hands against the table and standing up sharply, her chair scratching painfully on the stone floor and causing several people in the room to jump and cringe at the noise. Beside her, Regina and Zelena both nodded their agreement while Emma and Hook looked positively aghast at the archers words, like they couldn't believe she was actually saying them. "Alice is alone with that psychopath you call a daughter." She continued with a catch in her throat. "She's scared and- and she won't use her magic to defend herself, I know she won't and we don't know what Hope could be doing to her." She shivered before looking back up and glaring at Hook. "We have to rescue her. I don't care who I have to hurt or- or kill or-."

"Enough! We are NOT killing my granddaughter!" David called.

"I don't care who she is!" Robyn cried. "I don't care if she's your granddaughter or not, I just want Alice back!

"Alright hang on," said Emma. The rest of the table had gone silent at the archers declaration but Emma didn't have time to feel sorry for her. She didn't have time for anything apart finding her daughter and trying to save her from herself. "First off, there's nine of us against five of you. If you wanna hurt Hope, you're gonna have to go through us and trust me, I'm not above magical "kidnapping" myself if you so much as lay a goddamn hand on my kid."

"Emma!" Snow gasped in shock, although her exclamation of shock was barely heard over the explosion from the Mills corner from both Zelena and Regina, both of whom had flickers of flames licking at their hands, itching to throw their famed fireballs directly at her face.

"If you touch a BLOODY hair on my daughters head-!"

"Ms. Swan, if you think you're getting ANYWHERE near Robyn-!"

"I will make your death last for DAYS!"

"I swear I will make you regret ever stepping foot in Storybrooke!"

"You guys, calm down!" Henry had to shout over his mother and aunts threats, his eyes wide and in shock. "Mom isn't gonna touch Robyn, just like… Mom isn't gonna touch Hope."

"Wanna bet?" Emma snarled, the threats levied against her firing her up even more.

Zelena went to stand from her chair but Regina surprised them by grabbing hold of her shoulders. Zelena looked to her sister in a mixture of impatience and confusion before she saw the pointed look in her eyes. They all knew very well just how short Zelena's temper could really be and even in her own frustration, Regina was doing what she could to keep her, relatively, subdued. With a reluctant nod, Zelena bit her tongue and settled for a scowl, reminding everyone of the phrase 'if looks could kill'.  
After Regina had settled her sister, she took a breath loudly through her nose and shot Henry an apologetic look, then turned her attention back to Emma. She was still quite tense but instead of continuing to scream, she just raised her brow at the blonde, leaning back in her chair in an almost relaxed manner.  
And it was almost convincing for anyone who didn't know Regina was at her most dangerous, the calmer she appeared. Henry made note, and stayed at the ready to stop her - either of them - from really doing something they would regret.

"Yes I supposed you have the greater numbers. But you have a prince and princess who's only real claim to fame is uplifting speeches, an out of work author, a former maid, an eleven year old - no offense-" The Queen said, and the table all knew those two words were only directed at her son, his wife and her granddaughter before she continued "-the girl who runs the daycare, a science teacher, a sheriff who rarely uses her magic and an out of shape pirate." She paused slightly from dramatic effect before leaning forward. "We, on the other hand, have the Wicked Witch, a pirate who's at minimum a complete match to your own pirate, two world class archers, six of the world's greatest thieves and me… Forgive me but that sounds like the numbers and skills are on our side."

"I'm willing to take my chances," Emma growled without backing down from the brown eyed woman she had, until quite so recently, been friends with.

But what had happened to Hope, what Hope had done in her quest for revenge had divided the Queen and Savior once more. They weren't throwing punches in a graveyard or trying to poison one another with apple turnovers but it had caused a major strain on their relationship. What with Regina taking the side of her niece and would be step-daughter along with Alice while Emma, naturally, took Hope's side, like any number of other mothers would. Or at least as much as she could. Before the young blonde had truly let the darkness overwhelm her.

Since then, the two families - the Mills and Charming's with Henry and his own little branch on the complicated family tree flitting back and forth between the two - had grown increasingly hostile towards one another. And it appeared that even Alice and Hope's disappearance couldn't do anything to mend the ever growing rift.

Instead of being deterred by Emma's remark, Regina just smirked that almost terrifying smirk she had perfected over the years. It was the mask she had worn as the Evil Queen, though not quite fully on, the basics of it were still there.

It was almost an uncanny, and very annoying skill set that the Mills women all seemed to possess, from Cora all the way down to Robyn, though she barely used the inherited power unless she absolutely had too, and even then it was almost always in defense of Alice. It was the ability to be unphased by threats, especially ones thrown by the Charming family as well as being able to bite back with far sharper teeth. Everytime Emma thought she had gotten the best of one of them, all the way back to threatening Regina before she fought Maleficent to save Henry, all the way to now. Each every time, they just did that familiar smirk of the Mills women and threw back their barb just as quick as a whip being snapped.

"I bet you are. Too bad the odds aren't just not in your favor, Ms. Swan," Regina said slowly, using that nickname she only used when she was truly annoyed with the blonde. "You aren't even playing at the table."

"Enough!" Snow yelled. The princess waited until Emma and Regina mellowed their death glare at one another and turned towards her. "Every second we spend fighting is another second that Hope has Alice," the level headed Princess reminded the group taking her turn to glance between all of them and look everyone meaningfully in the eye before looking back to Emma and Regina again. When neither one of the angry women offered any rebuttals, Snow took a deep breath and turned at her step mother - and friend. "I gave you a second chance, Regina." She reminded the Queen who looked guiltily down at the table, scratching at her own face in the stained wood with a sharp fingernail. "I spared your life. Even after you told me your biggest regret was that you didn't get to kill me. And that was just the first of many times I gave you another chance to be better."

"Well... I saved your life more than a few times. I say we're even," Regina muttered.

"After all the pain you caused us and our family, and all the innocent people in our kingdom before that, saving Snow's life a dozen times over doesn't clear your debt," David said, being met with that oh so familiar exasperated look Regina loved to throw his way when the prince reminded the Queen of her past sins. "But sparing our granddaughters life… I say that will really wipe the slate clean. Once and for all."

Regina shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she felt the whole groups eyes turn and lock on her. She took a deep breath she lifted up her gaze to look back at a still infuriated Emma. She tried to look past her annoyance and irritation and remember a time when they actually worked together. In fact there were even times when Emma believed in her when no one else - including Snow and David - did.

"Alright," the Queen said. "Alright. I won't kill her. I promise. I also promise to do my best not to hurt her."

"Thank you," Snow breathed with a sigh of relief. While Emma still looked reluctant, especially considering the looks on Robyn, Zelena and Rogers faces that clearly said they weren't quite so willing to follow the same rules, she accepted her old friends truce of sorts.

For now.

"Fine, now that we got that settled, can we please go out and look for her?" Robyn begged. "We've wasted enough time as it is."

"I think that's a good idea," Regina said before she waved in the air in front of her, making everyone hands except Rolands glow a bright purple for a moment before the light faded away. "It's not like we have cell service here," the Queen reminded the group. "If you find any hint of Hope or Alice, raise your arm into the air. A light will shoot out your fingers, marking where you are. Roland and whoever else is near it can track the light back to you. And Roland, if you find anything, shoot this arrow-" Another wave of her hand and a bright purple arrow appeared in his grip. "-into the sky. It'll have the same effect."

The curly haired archer offered up a grateful smile at Regina, knowing she had purposely spared him from her magic. Sometimes it felt like the Queen, ironically as it was, was the only one who truly understood Roland's aversion to magic.

After that was settled, the small group broke out into their own, even smaller, individual groups to go searching for the two missing girls. Regina would go with the Hood siblings and the Merry Men since none of that particular group had magic and the gathering was sure Hope would go after Robyn next, if she decided to attack someone. Meanwhile Zelena would pair up with Rogers for similar reasons. And Neal with Alex, Henry with Ella, the Charmings all grouped together, and finally leaving Emma and Hook to team up.

Lucy loudly whined a little at being left behind with Friar Tuck as a babysitter, but keeping the young girl safe and out of harm's way was something every adult had agreed on with no exception. So despite the scowls she gave and the way she refused to hug either Regina or Emma back during the goodbyes, no one felt bad about putting her safety above her apparet 'right to help'.

Before they left, however, Hook went over to his look-alike, cornering him when the rest of the group had left. "Back off, Mate," said Rogers with a sharp look of warning. He was in no mood to talk with the father of the girl who had hurt his own child, especially not after their argument at the table.

"I need to talk to you." Hook said.

"About what?" Rogers asked, already ready to walk away.

"If you hurt my daughter-"

"You'll what?" Rogers interrupted, rounding around to glare at the pirate. "Fight me? I don't know if you've noticed, but we're fairly evenly matched."

"I was going to say, that pain you feel right now? Knowing your little girl is hurting and you can't help? I would feel exactly that." Rogers swallowed any sharpness as Hook looked at him, his ocean blue eyes no longer with the fury of an overprotective parent, but instead the simple pleading of a desperate papa. "And I know that you wouldn't inflict that kind of pain on anyone, let alone another father."

Rogers simply looked at the man for a moment, thinking carefully before he told him; "I won't do anything to hurt her if it can be helped. But if it comes down between fighting her and saving Alice…"

"I know. I know."

With an identical curt nod the two men headed out in separate directions to look for their daughters. Neither knowing how it was going to end, but each praying for the best.

And yet still fearing the worst.

**Present Day** , **Storybrooke**

Robyn sighed as she silently pulled on the same brown shirt she wore when she was admitted to the hospital, followed by her olive green jacket.

A nights sleep hadn't helped with any of the memory issues either Alice or Robyn were inflicted with, not that they thought it would, but they had nevertheless followed the doctors orders to at least give it a try. Though it had been almost too easy. What with the full day of tests tiring them out.

Since there was nothing else wrong with Robyn - apart from, ya know, not having any life except for waking up in a forest - Whale gave in and said she was free to go. The sheriff quickly offered to rent her a room at the local bed and breakfast until they found out what was wrong with her or she could track someone down to take care of her - whichever came first, but something still didn't feel right about it. And she soon had a good feeling what it was.

When Robyn was wandering back to her room in the hospital one day, thinking of the nice comfortable room that was being paid for her by someone else, she overheard the nurses talking about how Alice would be staying in the hospital for a long time to come. Not in the private room with a television and company, but in the basement where they housed patients with long term psychiatric issues. The town had a no felons rule in the town charter and according to the mayor, escaping a mental hospital constituted as a felony. As such, it seemed Hope had decided that the basement was the 'safest place for her. And everyone else'. The memory of that last sentence still made Robyn physically snarl in anger but she forced it aside, trying not to let her frustration get the best of her.

It just didn't feel right to leave the curly haired girl here all by herself. Alice had already lost her memories, now she was going to be tossed in a eight by ten padded cell, all alone from the rest of the world, which for some inexplicable reason, the mayor seemed to take almost giddying delight in. But why? Why did it feel like everything the mayor did was out of personal spite against Alice?

Once Robyn was fully dressed, she exited the small room and made her way down the hall to where she had left Alice the other night, hoping that she hadn't missed her.

Thankfully she hadn't. Alice, still in her four point restraints that Robyn had rendered all but useless the previous day, smiled sadly at the tall woman as she entered.

"Hi," Alice greeted softly as Robyn walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. "You're just in time, they're uh…" She jiggled her hand and it came loose of the leather cuffs, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand before she slipped it back into place. "They're shipping me downstairs in a bit."

"I know," Robyn admitted sadly. "I overheard some of the nurses talking. I'm so sorry, Alice."

Alice just drew in her bottom lip and sniffed more tears away. "I just uh-... I'm all alone right now, ya know?" She let out a sad laugh as more tears made an appearance despite her best efforts to hold them back. "'Course you know, you're in the same boat as I am. But… being in a- a padded cell all day with no visitors, no nurses, no- no anything… I'll really be all alone."

Robyn's heart shattered and tears pricked at her pale green eyes. This wasn't right. A girl like Alice didn't deserve this kind of treatment…

"I'll come and visit you," Robyn promised, leaning towards her slightly. "Every day. I promise." She gave the curly hair blonde a soft smile. "That way you have something to look forward too."

"Really?" asked Alice, hardly daring to believe it. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course I would. You can think of me as your first new memory."

Alice smiled at the woman sitting on her bed and Robyn felt her heart melt at the sight. "I look forward to it." She said, in a voice so impossibly soft, Robyn's heart solidifyy only so it could flutter rapidly.

The two women held each other's gaze for a moment, and were momentarily lost gazing at one another. For a second it almost felt like they were leaning towards one another when the curtain was thrown back again and they jumped sharply, sitting up and away from one another in their surprise. A surprise which quickly turned to a nasty taste in their mouths as they they saw Hope standing, watching them. She had chosen classy black slacks and a silk silver top today and had pulled her hair back into a rather severe looking ponytail that hung limp behind her head.

It made her pale eyes look darker in comparison but something about her still reminded Robyn of the girl restrained in the bed by her side. Truthfully, while there was some differences between them, there were still more than a few similarities. The same sharp jawline, the same slight point to their ears… While Hopes hair was more of a darker shade that looked like it had been freshly straightened and Alice was far more lighter and far more wild, they both had blonde hair that seemed to highlight their blue eyes.

Robyn practically felt a chill come off the woman as she grinned that frigid smile at the two of them. It was the kind of smile that, on its surface, appeared friendly… But was screaming out something foul beneath.

"Are you ready to go?" Hope asked in a cloyingly sweet tone as a nurse in a rather old fashioned nursing outfit stood behind her. Robyn presumed she was there to escort Alice down to the padded room and she didn't like it one bit.

"She doesn't need to go down there," Robyn argued instantly. She hadn't planned to say anything, but seeing Hope lording over them like that was too much for her to put up with.

"Need I remind you, Ms. Sheridan, that she went after my sheriff with a knife?" asked Hope with a sharp tone in her voice, all the while keeping a sickly sweet wide eyed innocence to her expression at the same time. "She's lucky we don't have her on stronger medication."

"Yeah because a frightened girl who weighs about ninety pounds soaking wet is a big danger to a trained officer," said Robyn dryly. "I sure hope you have guards posted outside the door."

Hope just gave her a look that clearly showed her annoyance with both the newcomers before she turned back towards Alice who was struggling to keep her breath steady. "Uncuff her. Bring her downstairs," Hope ordered the nurse.

But before the orderly could take a step into the room a familiar voice cried out for her to stop.

They all turned towards the voice and saw both Emma and Hopper hurrying over to the small group, looking both worried and relieved.

"It's not a felony!" The red headed therapist cried out, handing the mayor some papers and hunching over slightly to catch his breath.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hope demanded, snatching the papers off him and glaring down at them like they personally offended her.

"Texas law says it isn't illegal to escape from a mental hospital so long as you aren't there for a prison term," Emma explained. "I checked the records, she wasn't there for a crime."

Hope pursed her lips as she read the words on the paper, confirming what they were telling her, before she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "That may well be but she still pulled a knife on you and Leroy." She said stubbornly.

"Neither of us are pressing charges," the sheriff reminded her firmly.

Alice looked over at the girl still sitting on the bed, hardly able to believe her luck. Hope squared her shoulder, practically throwing the papers back at the red headed man. "She has no money, she has no way to rent anything in town. I won't have vagrants living on the street," the mayor challenged.

"You authorized funds to let me rent a place for Robyn until we find her family. Why can't you do the same for Alice?" asked Emma, frowning slightly.

"I do not have to explain my budgeting decisions to you," Hope snapped at her sheriff. "I'm not authorizing funds that might put Granny and the rest of her tenants at risk incase she freaks out again."

"Madame Mayor, the chance of that happening-."

"I said no!"

The group fell silent, staring at her. Hope seemed to realise she was drawing attention to herself and took a moment to compose herself, smoothing out her unwrinkled shirt. "You don't want her to stay in the padded room, and you refuse to take her back to Texas, fine. There's free real estate in the Storybrooke jail."

"Are you serious?" Robyn snapped. "You're gonna throw her in JAIL?!"

"Where else am I supposed to put her?" Hope demanded. "This town's one inn is not a charity and I will not be responsible for what she does when she decides she doesn't wanna take her pills!"

Robyn threw the sharpest glare she could manage before she straightened out and boldly stood up. "She'll stay with me then." She was then stunned to see the demanding blondes eyes go wide with something akin to fury, not to mention - for whatever reason - fright.

"You… No! No, I mean you… No."

"Why not?" Emma asked. "I get them a cheaper two bedroom with a forest view rather than a one room square view. Everyone wins."

"Plus she was the one who was able to calm her down," Hopper added. "It might be good for Alice to stay with her. And of course, for the town's safety as well." He added, just for the mayor's sake.

Hopes eyes darted back from Alice to Emma to Robyn and finally back to Alice. She stared at her hard and the young woman flinched under the harsh glare.

"Ms. Sheridan, if this person attacks you-."

"She won't," Robyn interrupted with a brisk sharpness.

Hope swallowed hard, once again glancing around the room. But she finally seemed to realise she would not be winning this fight. With one final glare at Alice, despite the fact that she had been the only person in the room not to talk back to her, Hope shook her head in disgust and turned sharply on her heel.

"If she hurts someone, then it's on your head," she barked over her shoulder before she stormed out of the hospital room, closely followed by the unsure looking nurse at her side.

There was a beat of silence as everyone watched her disappear, before Alice spoke. Her voice had a little waiver to it, but came through clear enough for the woman still standing by her side. "You'd really do that for me?" She asked the green eyed woman. "You'd let me stay with you?"

"Of course I would," Robyn told her without hesitation.

"Why? You don't even know me."

Robyn shrugged like it was no big deal. "I don't know, I just don't think it's right that you have to be stuck in a jail cell because the mayor for whatever reason doesn't like you. Who knows, maybe I was some saint back in my old life and I did this kind of thing all the time."

Alice smiled at the girl as she sat back down at her side. "I can see that… Yobin."

After the curly haired blonde was finally allowed back onto her own feet, she dressed in the same ripped leggings she first wore when she came to Storybrooke along with a plain gray sweatshirt that a kindly nurse has given her. They followed Dr Hopper to the front desk where he gave her a thirty day supply of the pills she was to take in order to keep her off the edge. Once that was all settled and the last of her discharge papers signed, the small group headed out of the hospital with their heads held high, a slight strut in their step like they had overcome a great dragon.

"Granny's Diner is closed but there's this bakery that's nearby and if we hurry we can in before it shuts for something to eat," Emma explained as she glanced back at the two young girls, completely missing the person who had just stepped out in front of her.

"Bloody hell!" the woman Emma slammed into cried as both of them almost fell to the hard tiled floor not far from the official exit. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" she snapped at the sheriff.

The woman spoke in a rather posh British accent that matched the way she wrinkled her eyes and despite the fact that she and Emma were of similar height, she easily managed a slight tilt as if she were looking down on her. She wore green hospital scrubs and had a head of natural wild red curls that were pulled back into a tight bun on the top of her head, with a few stray pieces falling into her face.

Robyn furrowed her brow at the red head. It wasn't her abrasive behaviour that caught her attention - though that certainly stood out - but rather something else about her. It was her eyes. Those pale green, almost grey, eyes that looked so familiar.

They were her eyes, Robyn realized. Which was impossible, of course, but still the resemblance of the eyes was almost unnerving.

"Sorry, sorry," Emma apologized as she and the redhead straightened themselves out. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Well that's obvious," the redhead said and Robyn had to bite back a snicker. She looked past the sheriff and saw the two girls for the first time and, like Robyn, she found herself staring into a set of very familiar eyes.

"These the two mental cases that lost their memories?" She asked Emma, still while staring directly at Robyn.

Before the blonde could answer, Robyn took a slight step forward, raising an eyebrow at the older woman. "Hey, raggedy-Anne, you have something to say, you can say it to me."

That caught her attention. The women's mouth opened slightly and her eyes widened, but not in shock, but rather an type of 'Oh really' look. "You want to try that again?"

"Okay, would you rather: When talking to me, speak to me, Mrs Weasley." Robyn said.

"Wow, ginger jokes. Real original. Much like the clothes you're wearing. Tell me, how many people had those hand-me-downs before they got to you?" The woman asked.

"About as many people as you've scared off by answering the door with your face uncovered."

The woman pressed her tongue against the top of her feet and tittered. "You know that saying about people in glass houses? Speaking of which, when do you plan on taking off that halloween costume?"

"You tell me. With hair like that, you must be the Bride of Frankenstein."

"And back to the hair. Darling, at least come up with something original. I don't play with amateurs."

"I imagine you don't get to play with much. Besides yourself."

There was a stretched out pause as the redhead finally seemed gobsmacked into silence. Even Alice was staring at Robyn in a whole new way and Emma glanced back and forth between the two of them, wondering if she should get between them and at the same time feeling like that was the most dangerous move she could make.

And they weren't alone in their shock. Robyn's heart was beating a mile a minute, and she had to fight the flush that wanted to crawl up to her face. She had no idea where all those insults had come from but it was like someone else had taken control and they just blurted out, one after another, brought on by an odd new confidence she couldn't explain. She stood her ground, swallowing hard and tensing, waiting for the blow that she was sure to come - after all, that last comment probably had gone a bit too far.

Only the redhead surprised all of them when she smirked at Robyn, nodding her head almost in approval. She finally turned away, directing her attention back to Emma. "I rather like this one."

All the tension died from the area and Emma allowed herself to roll her eyes at them both. She wasn't sure what else to make of the scene and decided it was best to simply move on before the two women could dive into round two. Emma looked back and motioned to the two girls.

"Zelena, this is Robyn Sheridan and the girl on the left is Alice Carroll. Guys, this is Zelena West. She is Storybrookes best midwife." Emma explained.

"I'm the only bloody midwife," Zelena muttered before pushing some of the still hanging curls behind her ear with a sigh. "Which apparently means nothing now that everyone has access to google. All bloody day I have to hear expectant idiots proclaim that eating figs dipped in coconut oil will make their baby smarter instead of just making them sick. And that's not even the worse one. You won't believe the types of nonsense they come up with lately."

"Well seeing as you're such a delicate creature, why not just tell them they're being stupid?" Robyn offered.

"Because medicine is a business and in business the customer is always right, no matter how dim witted the parents are being," Zelena explained with a roll of her eyes. She looked over the girls shoulders and groaned loudly. "Speaking of dimwitted," she mumbled before raising her voice brightly. "Hello, Dr. Cutter."

The girls looked over their shoulder and saw a rather scraggy older man with shoulder length gray hair approaching them. His name badge informed the two newcomers he was the resident OBGYN. And they could all practically smell the stale beer on him.

"Why did you tell the Houghs to get a second opinion regarding my prescription?" Cutter practically growled at the suddenly nervous redhead. No introduction with him, it was straight to business.

"Because it's a five hundred dollar prescription that their insurance doesn't cover and in my opinion she doesn't need it," Zelena argued tensely, like she was walking on a landmine and she knew it. "She's just a nervous first time mum, she doesn't have whatever disease she found on Web MD. Not to mention what those pills could do to a perfectly healthy fetus."

"That's five hundred dollars you took out of my pocket, you stupid girl!" Cutter barked. "Just because you lost your own damn baby because of sheer stupidity doesn't mean everyone else will!"

Robyn and Alice could feel the slam of shock that hit all of them. They looked from Cutter back up to Zelena. The redhead, so snarky and strong a moment ago pursed her lips as she glanced down at the floor, tears flooding her eyes.

"Come on," he all but snapped at her. "The Platt woman is in labor and you got a job to do. So wipe away those pathetic tears," he barked at Zelena sharply. "And you put on a good face already!"

Without another word the man turned and walked off away from them, crouching slight and growling and grumbling to himself the whole way.

"You okay?" asked Emma as she reached over and rubbed the redheads shoulder. Zelena said nothing; just threw off Emma's hand with a sharp roll of her arm, wiped away her tears and walked away without another word.

"I hate that bastard," Robyn practically growled. She had no idea why, but she had an almost overwhelming need to comfort that red headed woman. The feeling was almost as strong, if not more, as the need to help Alice had been. Which was no longer as odd as it once would have been.

"Yeah, Cutters an asshole," Emma muttered, watching Zelena disapear before they all turned and continued their walk out of the hospital. "Especially for that jibe about Zelena's baby."

"What happened?" asked Alice as she and Robyn followed Emma to her yellow bug, parked closely to the front steps of the hospital. "He said she lost her baby?"

The sheriff nodded as they climbed inside. She seemed to gather her thoughts and didn't quite speak until she set the car into drive and started off. "The baby came early. A little girl, if I remember correctly," she explained. "It fought for a few hours and the doctors did their best, but there was nothing they could have done. And to make matters worse, now she has to spend her days delivering happy healthy babies to other parents."

Robyn frowned, reaching up and grabbing hold of the arrowhead necklace as if the gesture could comfort her. The tale the blonde told the two girls was surprisingly hitting her far harder than she thought it would have, to the point she had to bite back tears. She didn't understand it. Yes, it was sad, but Zelena was some stranger to Robyn. More than that. She was a stranger she had insulted upon meeting. Why would she be this emotional over something happening to someone she didn't even know?

Robyn shook the thoughts away. She knew she couldn't dwell on them or they'd drive her crazy. There was already so much going on, she needed to focus on herself. With that in mind, Robyn forced herself to look out the window and watch the almost cookie cutter businesses and homes pass on by, trying to think of other things to keep her distracted. Unfortunately, when you have as few memories as she did, there wasn't actually all that much to think about.

A few minutes later, Emma pulled in front of a store front and Robyn looked up at the sign hanging over head; a red apple with an arrow through it and 'Queens Bakery' written in an elegant cursive purple font inside the apple. It was maybe a little over the top, but Robyn liked it anyway.

"The woman that runs this place-" Emma said as the three of them climbed out of her car. "-is practically a psychic. I mean it's like she knows what you want or need before you even order it."

"Can she bake though?" asked Alice.

"Best baker in all of Storybrooke," Emma answered, walking up to the store and holding the door open for the girls, watching them enter with a knowing smile on her face the whole time.

The bakery was empty, save for one woman with her back turned to them behind the counter. It was somehow simple but still elegant with dark purple French style chairs and wooden tables, all of which, in the day time, would have crisp white tablecloths draped over them, while framed professional photographs of various pastries, blown up and hung on the walls. The glittering silver display case was practically empty, letting them know they had come in shortly before closing after all. Luckily there were still a few delicious looking morsel in the now unlit case.

"Really, Sheriff?" The woman said with a sigh as the trio walked in. She stood up, showing off the dark brown - almost black - hair pulled into a low messy ponytail behind her. It was simple, but nothing like Hope's which had been low and limp. The messiness to her hair gave it an almost lively look, like someone bouncing with joy even when they didn't bother to put the effort in. She finally turned to face them and gave a look of tired exasperation to the sheriff. Flour littered the front of her red apron with the apple and arrow logo on the front of it and beneath the apron she wore a clearly used white T-shirt and jeans that were ready and waiting to get a little messy. "Ten minutes before I close?"

"They were hungry," Emma said apologetically, with a little cheeky shrug.

The baker sighed before she turned her attention down to the two girls. And suddenly her look of annoyance was replaced completely by something akin to sympathy.

"You're the girls with memory issues," she said, more of a statement than a question. Alice was beginning to wonder if there wasn't anyone in this town who hadn't heard of them yet.

"Alice Carroll and Robyn Sheridan," Emma introduced.

"Regina Mills," Regina said as she stuck her hand over the counter to shake theirs in turn before she reached over turned the backlight for the display case back on. "I'm gonna go ahead and assume that the amnesia didn't leave you with pasty preferences. So…" Regina turned her attention back on Robyn and examined her face for a moment.

"You… Look like a red apple-, no… A _green_ apple tart kind of girl," Regina said before she reached into her display and pulled out the last of that particular dessert. With a cheerful smile, she handed it over to Robyn.  
Robyn just raised her brow before accepted the treat. Everyone watched her expectantly, making her feel like she was on the stage for them. It was more than a little unnerving but she did her best to ignore it as she took a bite of the pastry, the sweet taste filling her mouth all at once with the perfect mixture of soft and crumbling at the same time. She was pleasantly surprised when the crisp almost bitter apple paired exceptionally well with the sugar and cinnamon on the top. As well as the other spices that were folded, tucked safely inside the dough.  
"Apparently I'm a green apple fan," Robyn confirmed as she took another, more confident, bite.  
Regina just grinned before she turned her attention to Alice. "And you are without question…" She pursed her lips for a moment before smiling and clicking her fingers. "An orange marmalade scone, no doubt."  
Regina once again reached into the display and pulled out one of the scones from the side with several others. Turning off the backlight for the second time that night, she handed the scone over the counter to the younger blonde who cradled it like a jewel. Like, Robyn, she hesitated before she took a small nibble of the corner, her eyes going wide at the taste.  
"This is fantastic!" Alice announced before she almost greedily took another, much larger bite.  
The brown eyed woman just laughed at them both as she wiped her hands on her apron. Beside the two girls, Emma chuckled. "What'd I say, the woman's practically a witch."

Regina bowed low at the three of them, grinning at the blonde before she pulled out one last dessert from the side. This one had been sitting on the side rather than in the now darkened display case, and she quickly handed it off to the sheriff. "Thank you, thank you… Here; my least favorite and your favorite, chocolate cinnamon roll, on the house."

"You are amazing," said Emma greedily as she took the pasty from the bakers hand. "But I should probably get these guys over to Granny's, let them get some sleep and let you close up shop for the night."

Regina just nodded at her before she turned towards Robyn and gave the young girl a friendly smile. "You guys come back any time okay? Any one thing you want on the house for as long as you're in Storybrooke."

"Even the marmalade ones?" asked Alice as she finished off her pastry, slightly breathless. "Because these are just brilliant."

Regina laughed and nodded at her. "Yes, even the marmalade ones."

Alice grinned, bid her thanks and with another round of smiles and thank you's they were off. Regina watched them leave and even peeked out the window as they climbed back into the Sheriffs bug. She had heard a lot about the girls with no memories but they were nothing like she expected. From what she remembered Mayor Hope saying to anyone who would listen, one of them had attacked Emma. Well, Emma didn't look very bothered by the apparently 'violent attack'. Regina snorted, not surprised in the least by that fact, as she watched the car disappear down the road.

When she was finally alone, Regina walked around and switched the 'open' sign to 'closed' and finished up doing her last minute prep work for tomorrow. She went into the back, counted out her till, gave the bakery a quick cleanup, and finally locked the doors. After a grueling sixteen hour day, fifteen of which were spent on her feet, she was headed for home.

An hour later, Regina sighed as she finally walked through the door, her feet aching and her body exhausted, in desperate need for a rest. She groaned as she threw her keys on the table by the door, rubbing the back of her sore neck before she walked straight to her bathroom. She wanted nothing more than to take off her sweaty clothes, drop into a long hot soak in the tub and go straight to bed.

However she had just taken three short steps into the house when a voice called out to her from the living room. Regina groaned quietly as she made her way towards the voice where her husband sat on his favorite recliner. It seemed he was well settled after an eight hour long day as the Editor in Chief of the 'Daily Mirror', all eight of those hours spent sitting behind a desk, yelling orders at everyone who passed within ear shot.

"Hey, Gee-Gee, you're home kinda late," Sidney said with a wide grin.

She gave him a tired smile, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, Emma came in late with the two amnesia cases. And it's been a busy day. I barely had time to get all the cleaning done," she said, hoping that he would get the message.

Instead Sidney pouted at his wife. "Oh I'm sorry, Sweetie. There's some leftover chicken casserole if you're hungry. Actually, would you mind scooping me out a plateful as well?"

Regina sighed softly, merely nodding before she stumbled back out to the kitchen where she spent a few good minutes heating him up a serving of chicken casserole. The dishes still needed to be done too, she noticed with a frown. She would have to get up an extra hour early in the morning to do them, since there was no way she'd be getting round to doing them tonight. But she didn't harp on about that, as she made her way back into the living room and handed him his plate without a word.

"Thanks, Honey. But oh, you mind grabbing me a glass of wine too? While you're on your feet, I mean." He wriggled his toes as if showing off that his were too far off the floor.

Regina pursed her lips slightly but nevertheless did as she was asked and made her way back into the kitchen. She got out a glass from the cupboard, the bottle of wine from the rack, and walked back into the living room to set them both down on the stand sitting beside him, too tired to pour it herself, all the while doing it all in complete silence.

She was just about to retire and go back into the bathroom when he reached out suddenly and took her by the hand. Before she could react, he pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep her from jumping up agan.

"Hang on, before you go, tell me about your day," he said with another grin, stroking her side with his thumb.

"It was fine, just very busy," she told him again. "I'd really just like to get to take a bath before I get to bed."

Sidney smirked at his wife, letting his hand trail up her thigh. "You wanna get to bed or… 'get to bed'?" he said with a rather devilish grin. Before she could answer he began kissing her neck with wet sloppy kisses that almost made her feel odd - and not in a pleasant way.

"Sidney, come on, baby. Not tonight," she practically begged. "I'm so tired…"

"I bet I could wake you up," he whispered to her softly.

Regina bit her lip as Sidney moved his kisses from the crook of her neck to behind her ear, just missing that one spot that would have made her tremble, not out of desire or want for him, but something else.

Something almost akin to guilt.

Which was insane, of course. Sidney was her husband, for heaven's sake. He had been her husband for the past… Well she couldn't remember the exact number of years they had been married now but it had certainly been a while. And yet sitting on his lap right now, with his hand pawing at her and his lips trailing down her neck, she couldn't help but feel like she was… Almost cheating somehow.

"Baby, please," she begged again, grabbing hold of his wrist when he went to undo the button on her jeans. Regina covered the movement by bringing the back of his hand to her lips and kissing it as tender as she could manage. "I'm so tired, I just wanna relax before I go to bed."

Sidney looked at her for a moment before he sighed, pulling his hands from around her and settling back in his recliner, looking thoroughly dejected. "Fine, Fine, go to sleep," he said rather shortly. "Afterall, I'm sure baking all day can be so tiring," he finished with a roll of his eyes.

Regina pursed her lips for a second before she stood up from his lap. She made to walk away before she stopped herself and turned back around, something almost compelling her not to leave him mad.

_You love him, he's your husband, of course you don't wanna leave him upset after a fight,_ she told herself, shaking the strange feeling from her head. She bent down and turned his head towards her, kissing him softly on the lips.

"I love you," Regina told him, and she found herself hoping for a similar reply.

Sidney just sighed, looking up at her like she was a child that needed to be scolded, speaking to her in the same way. "I love you too."

Another smile from her, another quick kiss before she headed into the bathroom. Regina shut and locked the door behind her and quickly stripped herself out of her flour and dough covered clothes. She dropped them to the floor in the corner to be put in the wash later before she turned the water on to almost scolding level, adding various salts and bubbles to calm her shaken nerves.

She grabbed several scented dark green candles she kept high on the bathroom shelf and strategically placed them around the bath and on the window sill. She made sure they were spread in every area before going back around and lighting each one.

With that ready, she finally stepped in and sunk into the hot water with a audible sigh of content as she leaned her head back against the marble tub. Once she was settled down, she took a deep inhaling through her nose, taking in the scent of the melting wax filling the air along with the vague trace of the bath salts fizzing in the water around her. But it was the smell of the candles that was calming her nerves, far more than the hot water, or the bubbles or the salts or anything else.

Sidney constantly mocked her for it, considering Regina was about the least outdoorsy person he knew, but there was just something about the smell of the forest scent she bought that just relaxed her...

Please Review!


	6. Chapter 6

 “So your sister is a little intense.”

  Henry shrugged as he and Ella made their way through the wooded area that they had been assigned to search. They each had their swords in hand, slightly pointed out in front of them like they were ready to be used on a moments notice, not that they would really do much good against magic users. But the sharp edges of the twin steel blades still made them feel somehow more in control so they kept them out regardless.

  “Well… She takes after her great grandma,” explained Henry as he moved a low hanging branch for Ella to duck underneath. “But to be fair, she wasn’t always like this. Plus it really isn’t her fault,” he said with a touch of defensiveness - it was his baby sister after all. “I mean the whole kidnapping and threatening magical murder is a little bit of an overreaction but you can’t blame her for being upset after everything she’s been through.”

  “I know. And I know Lucy misses who she used to be, too. Hope was one of her favorite babysitters for a long time,” Ella added quickly, so her husband didn’t think she was blaming his sister. “I actually feel bad for her.”

  “I do too. I don’t think ANYONE knew how bad it was going to go down. I mean I know my mom; if she thought for a second that Alice couldn’t do what she promised, she never would have agreed to it.”

  “And I don’t think Alice would have have even volunteered to do it if she thought she couldn’t.” Ella said, nodding encouragingly.

  “Still…” Henry frowned, biting the inside of his lip anxiously. “She should have been sure… Really sure, before she did anything.”

  Ella raised a brow at the man standing beside her, coming to a sudden stop. Henry took several more steps before realising she had fallen back and glanced over his shoulder to find her squinting suspiciously at him. “You aren’t blaming Alice are you?” She asked.

  Henry shrugged back at her, a non answer if ever there was. “I like Alice. And she makes my cousin happy but… She still ruined my sister’s life.” Ella pursed her lips and continued to squint at him, but couldn’t say anything in her defense, seeing as how he was - technically - correct in that statement. However Henry saw her still struggling and quickly continued. “Yeah it was an accident but she should have known the limits of her own magic before she tried something so big.”

  “She didn’t know what was gonna happen, Henry. Plus you heard Regina. Everything was done perfectly. There was no reason for Hopes light magic to just vanish into thin air like it did.”

  “I know, Ella, I’m just… I miss my sister is all.” Henry breathed the last sentence, letting his head down and suddenly very focused on his shoes.

  The brown eyed princess frowned at her husband before she stepped forward. Gently reaching him, she took hold of his hand and waited patiently for him to willingly lift his head again and look at her.

  “I know you do, Mi Vida,” she said softly. “And hey, Regina and Zelena even said once we rescue Alice there might be a chance to help Hope.”

  Henry smiled at her for a moment, reaching to wrap his arms around her and pulling her closer. For just half a moment, their troubles and issues seemed to have been forgotten as they leaned on each other for more than just physical support.

  “You know you’ve been calling me that for years. I don’t think I’ve ever asked you what it means,” said Henry as he slid his hands to rest on her back, their faces close enough that their noses were an inch away from touching.

  Ella chuckled, her chest rumbling against his, reaching up and draping her arms loosely around his neck. “I kinda like you not knowing,” she purred in that delectable thick accent that drove the author insane.

  The two of them just barely managed to touch their lips together when a very familiar voice behind them interrupted with a rather disgusted; “Ew!”

  Both Henry and Ella turned and looked down at the source. It didn’t take them very long before they saw Lucy standing in amongst the trees, her body half hidden by a thick thrown bush - in fact they might have completely skimmed their eyes over her if they hadn’t been purposely searching. Sure enough the young girl was no longer hiding, and she stepped slightly out of the shadows, calmly looking up at her parents.

  “Lucy, what are you doing out here?” Ella demanded sharply, all romance vanishing from the moment.

  “Not to mention HOW did you get out here? Friar Tuck was supposed to be watching you,” Henry added, though he didn’t sound as upset as his wife - more resigned.

  “I told him I wanted to play hide and seek and took off,” Lucy answered with a shrug. “And why else would I be out here? I wanna help. Hope is my aunt and Alice is my friend,” the small girl protested firmly.

  “Baby, I know you want to help but it’s dangerous out here,” Ella said not unkindly.

  “Your mother’s right. Do you know what your grandmothers would do to me if you wound up getting hurt?” said Henry, only half joking. He still bore scars both from when Emma overheard him not letting his daughter have cookies before dinner and when Regina discovered he hadn’t made sure she wore a helmet when she went for that bike ride with her friends and ended up with a nasty cut above her left temple.

  After that, every time she went over to Emma and Hooks, the blonde seemed to be waiting for them. Each time she made sure to give her granddaughter one of Snow’s special homemade cookies that she brought over before dinner. In fact, Henry was pretty sure she had begun to make sure to visit her own mother every time she heard Henry was planning to come round and it was leading to Lucy suddenly wanting to spend more time at the Swan-Jones household more than anywhere else.

  And whenever she left Regina's mansion after a quick visit, it was always with some kind of a treat - normally something like a fancy tiara which later revealed to have a protection charm on it. And Henry didn’t mind Regina protecting her granddaughter, but he also had to remind his mother that Lucy needed to learn to take care of herself, which included dealing with mistakes that might lead to injury. And despite how nasty the cut looked on her, it really wasn’t that bad after she had been cleaned up.

  “Come on, I’ll take you back to the castle.” He sighed, wondering if he could get her back before either of his mothers caught wind of them. As Henry went to take her hand Lucy pulled away, sharply, suddenly scowling at him.

  “But I wanna help!” The young girl whined.

  “You’re too little, Lucy,” Henry argued with a groan as he rubbed his temples. He didn’t want to be impatient or short with her, but he was on a rescue mission and time was of the essence - they’d already wasted enough as it was and it was going to drag out even further since he still had to take her all the way back before returning to their same spot again.

  “You were ten when you went to Boston on your own!” She protested. “And you were eleven when you tried to blow up magic!”

  Henry opened his mouth to argue but closed it when he realized he really had no argument for that.

  “It’s just different, okay?” He said, which earned him a raised eyebrow from his daughter.

  “It’s not different at all. I helped back when we were cursed by Ivy! Just like you when Regina cursed everyone. And the fact that you think it is still different just perpetuates sexist and harmful stereotypes about gender roles and women.” Lucy said, not even hesitating or tripping over herself before crossing her arms and lifting her chin into the air.

  Henry did a double take. “... Where the hell did you hear THAT?”

  “From Grandma Emma.”

  Henry sighed, looking helplessly back at Ella for a moment. But all she could do was shrug in return, watching as he turned back to an incredibly smug looking Lucy.

  “The first HINT of trouble of any kind, and I want you to run back to the castle okay? Don’t try to save me, don’t try to save your mom, or Alice or anyone else, if there’s any danger I want you run as fast as you can back to the castle and don’t pause or look back for a second until you’re safe.” Henry said firmly.

  That put a slight damper in her determination. And it killed both Henry and Ella to see a dash of fear cross her face as she imagined the idea of actually leaving her parents behind. But she soon squared her shoulders, hardened her face and gave a curt nod to assure him she would follow his instructions and do what she had to.

  “Good. Now-.” Henry was cut off by a magical familiar sounding  _ poof _ appearing out of nowhere behind him.

  “Why would there be danger?” A smooth, sickly sweet sounding voice asked him.

  The three Mills turned and saw Hope sitting on a nearby low hanging tree branch. She was swinging her legs and casually holding on like a little girl out to play. However that posture was destroyed by the dark glint in her eyes of the way her lips were shaped into an upturned smirk of someone who had done something they knew would upset people they had fully hoped to upset. I 

  “I have the monster all locked up,” She said with a voice as calm as a stillwater pond, and just as warm and comforting as one as well.

  “Hey, Hope,” Henry quickly greeted his younger sister in a tone he hoped hid his fear as he subtlety tried to push Lucy behind him at the same time.

  Once his daughter was somewhat safe, he looked back over his sister, frowning slightly at her appearance. She looked the same as when he had last seen her, at least on the surface. She had the same pretty face, same blonde hair, same crystal blue eyes but with all the varieties, she was still also different. What was once a beautiful face that usually only bothered with natural and very light touches of makeup was now full of dark colors, particularly on her eyelids to go along with her wine colored red lips. Hope had also gone from wearing light jeans and cute pink jumpers that any other twenty three year old girl would have worn to wearing tight black leather pants that looked like they had been painted on and a dark blue corset that was FAR too constricting. It all showed off way too much of his baby sisters skin and curves and the natural salt water smell she could never seem to get rid of was finally gone, replaced with something sharp and tangy, like it was actually burning the inside of his nose just to breath around her.

  “I was just-.”

  “I mean, unless my ‘loving’ family turned against me and came to the Enchanted Forest to free the villainous demon. Releasing her so she has open reign to ruin everyone else’s lives in the same way she ruined mine.” She interrupted as she jumped down from the branch and took a step towards him, her black dagger heel magically not sinking into the damp earth despite her heavy steps. “Then I can see why there might be danger.”

  “Alice didn’t know what would happen,” Ella argued, stepping forward and speaking in a quick breathless rush. “If she did-”

  “She still would have done it!” Hope barked, her voice breaking the heavy silence like an axe chopping down. That anger and that resentment once rarely shown now stayed just beneath the surface. “Because she’s an evil little monster and so is my ’darling’ mother for letting it happen!”

  “Mom thought it was the best way to help you,” Henry said, trying to keep his own voice steady and not raised, despite how shaky and uneasy he felt. It wasn’t fear, right? He couldn’t possibly be scared of his baby sisters?

  “I didn’t need help!” The blonde shouted. “I didn’t need Alice OR Emma interfering in my life, and if everyone had just left things well enough alone then none of this would have happened!”

  “Hope, please,” Lucy begged from behind her fathers back, trying to look around him even while he kept himself between them like a body shield. “Please, just give Alice back. She didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  Hope glanced down at the brown eyed girl for only a moment before she turned her attention back to Henry, ignoring her. Hurt and betrayal flashed on her features as her eyes locked on his and she frowned, one of her clenched fists shaking dangerously by her side. “So that’s it then is it? You turned Lucy against me too?”

  “No one is against you,” Ella tried to keep her voice just as calm as her husband, but still moved to stand beside Henry, also blocking Lucy from view. Her hands twitched and she was ready to throw her daughter out of harm’s way if necessary at a moments notice.

  “Then why are you taking her side?”

  The words were out of Henry’s mouth before he could stop them. “Because she’s not-”

  Another dark anger overtook Hopes face, more fierce than before and she took a step closer to the small family. “Not WHAT exactly?!”

  Both Henry and Ella had the wisdom and experience to know when to let a question go unanswered. Lucy, however, made herself as tall as she could, ducking around her parents while they were distracted and speaking up before they could stop her.

  “She’s not the villain.”

  The meaning behind Lucy’s words were clear, even if she hadn’t intended to say it out loud like that. And it was as if, despite everything she had done and all the effort she had put into her nasty plans, Hope truly never expected to hear someone talk like that about her. Much less from her adorable niece of all people. Hope Margaret Swan-Jones was not a villain. Alice was. She was the one who stole Hopes light magic. She was the one who ruined everything good about Hope and took all the happiness from her life. And, in the end, all she could say to her was that ‘it was an accident’. Like that made everything okay!

  If that didn’t constitute villainy, then Hope wasn’t sure what did.

  But as quick as the pain at that label came, she masked it with a snarking disbelief. “Alice RUINED my life,” she emphasized slowly, glaring down at Lucy as she spoke. “She took away everything that was good about me. I could murder a thousand people with the snap of my finger and that little English tart would still be more villionious than me.”

  “It was an accident,” Henry argued once again. “She wouldn’t do something like that on purpose.”

  “Whether it was an accident or not doesn’t matter. The fact is, it still happened. And you’re either with Alice or against her.” She took one final step until she was practically nose to nose with Henry. “Which means you’re either with me or against me. So which is it?”

  Henry bit lightly down on his lip, having a mental argument. He always knew that this moment would be coming, and yet he had almost fooled himself that he could avoid it. That if he was given the chance, then he could actually get through to Hope and convince her to stop this before she hurt anyone else. But looking into her determined cold eyes - eyes that looked like they hadn’t been graced with sleep in days - he knew she was too far gone in the moment.

  So with a heavy heart, and an aching in his stomach, his hands clutched onto the hilt of his sword tightly until his knuckles turned white. He wasn’t giving up, but nor could he let this play out any longer and he couldn’t balance on the sidelines any more. Hope was right. It was time to pick a side. Without warning, he raised the sword up and pointed it towards her. The movement was so swift, it made Hope step back to avoid being cut. “I’m with the person who doesn’t believe kidnapping is the answer to your problems.”

  Instead of being deterred - almost as if she had expected that answer from him - Hope just nodded her head. When she spoke, her voice was low and dangerously steady. “So you’ve made your choice then.”

  Before Henry could react or say anything further, Hope moved first. With a short single wave of her hand in front of her, there was a slight brush of wind and a blue shimmering light ran over the bodies of the two women by his side. Henry looked around just in time to see Ella and Lucy suddenly frozen in place, their expressions having just enough time to widen in surprise before they were still.

  “Lucy! Ella!” Henry yelled, turning around to face them each in turn. But in the next moment, before he could turn back to Hope again, he felt himself being lifted up and thrown across the forest. His body soared for a second there was a whistling in his ears before he was slammed into a thick tree, his limbs crumpling with him before he dropped back to land on the ground. He gasped for air that wouldn’t come to his bruised lungs as he staggered back to his feet. Miraculously, his sword was still in hand and as much as he ached, nothing obvious appeared to have been broken.

  Hope casually walked along, following where he had fallen and approaching him with a definite threat to her stance. With another wave of her hand, Hope conjured her own sword in a swirl of smoke and Henry swallowed hard as he eyed the familiar and exquisite weapon his sister now held towards him. Whereas Henry’s sword was a rather simple long sword - no different than most knights - hers was a custom made weapon. A sharply curved cutlass with an elegant handle that surrounded her hand and was encased in sapphires. The sword blade itself was a soft blue that almost seemed to have the ocean waves themselves forged into its surface.

  It had been a gift from her father on her fourteenth birthday. Ever since then, Hope had more than enough practice with it and Henry knew the skill she had to wield it and wield it well.

  If the original Robin Hood had been given a gift when it came to archery, then Hope Swan-Jones had been given the gift of swordsmanship. Some had even called her a prodigy.

The elegant art of fencing, the honorable styles of the British knights, the swift and silent styles of the Japanese ninja, whatever the style, it didn’t matter. If it involved swinging a sword, she had mastered it.

  Henry was a decent swordsman, he had been taught by a prince and a pirate after all since he was ten years old. But it would have been like Snow White challenging the deceased thief to an archery tournament. There was good, and then there was  _ GOOD _ .

  “Not only do I have magic,” said Hope, as if reminding him of that pesky little fact while she threw him into another tree nearby, making him gasp in pain - though thankfully it wasn’t as far a throw and therefore not as painful as the first. “But I could defeat you in a battle of swords with my eyes closed, Henry, and you know it.” She added needlessly. Because she was right, and he did know it.

  Despite his determination, all he could do was groan from the pain along his shoulder blades where he had hit the tree bark. He twisted in response to her as he lifted his sword up defensively from the ground, only for her to close the distance between them and clash her weapon against his in less time than it took to blink. The scratching sound of their blades rubbing together was like nails on a chalkboard, making Henry wince and resist the urge to shield his ears from the pain. But before he could get his thoughts straight, Hope moved again. In four quick swings she somehow managed to twist her sword around his so that Henry was somehow aiming his own sharp pointed weapon at himself.

  “Please,” Henry groaned, unable to defend himself with both the physical and emotional pain weighing him down. “Hope, don’t do-.”

  “I could end your pathetic little life.” She interrupted as she waved her hand and sent him flying into the air once more. On this time, he didn’t crash into a tree but was rather suspended mid air, dangling above her with his sword slipping from his grip finally and clattering against the soft ground. “I could kill you right now. Right in front of your daughter. I could make her watch you bleed out and take my time with it. Or make her watch you die slowly while you struggle for your last breaths. 

  She made a point of squeezing her fingers together slowly, cutting off his airflow and snarling as she did so. Just when Henry thought she was going to completely choke him, she released just enough for a whistle of air to make its way down his throat. Then, with another wave of her hand, barely flicking her wrists now, he flew down until he was within half an inch from her face. Despite the string of air he was allowed, it still wasn’t enough and his lips and face had already begun to turn a light shade of blue.

  Hope leaned in closer, her eyes not leaving his for a long moment. Just as darkness began to overtake Henry, she released him, letting him fall to the ground in front of her, gasping and coughing as he choked desperately for air.

  “But I won’t,” She said over him, watching her older brother gulping the air like water as she looked down like a lord. “Because Alice is the bad guy here. Not me.”

  With one last wave of her hand, Lucy and Ella were unfrozen. They nearly stumbled as they were released by wasted no time, turning to where Henry and Hope had ended up just a little way away from them.

  “Dad!” Lucy sobbed as she and Ella ran to him. They ignored the murderous woman in front of them and rushed passed.

  After the women had reached their husband and father, Hope turned away, sneering slightly like their whole display was an embarrassment. Without so much as a second thought spent on the fact she had almost killed her own brother, Hope disappeared in a puff of dark blue smoke and left them alone.

  And all Henry could think of as he hugged his crying little girl and promised her that he was alright, was the promises his mother had made to Emma about not hurting Hope? Yeah, Regina was going to firmly yank that offer off the table...

 

**Present Day, Suburb 30 Miles Outside of Lincoln Nebraska**

 

  Henry Cider hated Thursdays.

  And Wednesdays. And Tuesdays. Definitely hated Mondays. And Sunday’s nights after his daughter Lucy went to bed.

  But he particularly loathed Thursdays because it was so close to the end of the week when he could spend a whole Saturday and whole half Friday with Lucy and his wife Ellisia (‘Ella’ for short). But as close it was, he still had one more god awful work day to get through before he could enjoy his weekend and it always dragged the longest out of all other days in the week.

  Henry also hated his work, which didn’t help. God awful, mind numbing work that required no brain cells, hardly any real concentration, certainly no creativity, not that Henry had any of the latter but still, anything would have been better than being stuck inputting data numbers from the quarter and biweekly profits on a spreadsheet from 9-5, five days a week for $14.00 an hour.  But… It put food on their table and kept a roof over their head. It bought Lucy that Barbie dream castle she had begged for her birthday a couple years back. And it bought Ella those Louis Vuitton heels his wife would never admit she wanted but would always look longingly at whenever they would walk by the shoe store in the street.

  Plus, it was this work that had led him to meet his wife.

  Ella worked nights as a janitor cleaning the building. She came in at five to start her shift every day, while Henry left at five, and they would always exchange pleasantries on his way out and her way in.

  Then one night, she had complimented his tie - a dark purple one with stars on its end - and the two of them somehow just got to talking. It was so easy and so fun, that they didn’t realise how much time was passing until they spotted a nearby clock and realised it was nearing ten o’clock. Ella had yet to get any of her daily work done, while Henry had stayed an extra five hours simply because he didn’t want to stop talking to this interesting woman.

  They had been married… Almost as long as Henry could remember. But the ceremony was something to behold. It had been nothing short of beautiful. Ella had been beautiful, even if he couldn’t remember all the finer and smaller details of it, and a year later, when their little girl was born, Lucy Reina Emilia Cider was beautiful too.

  Henry glanced down at his watch, biting his lip as he saw the seconds on his watch tick closer and closer.

  4:59:57… 4:59:58... 4:59:59...5:00:00.

  With a quick click on the mouse to save his work, Henry jumped up from his chair in his small closest sized cubicle and rushed to put his peacoat on. He nearly caught his arm trying to jam it into the sleeve and then grabbed his back where it was already packed by his feet, waiting for him. When he hurried out through the mazes of other identical cubicles, he ignored all the other men and women who hardly knew his first name much less who he would waste any further time talking to. At least not when he had far more important things to do.

  Like meet his wife before she started her shift.

  He saw her before she saw him and all at once, any weight crushing Henry’s shoulder from his meaningless life seemed to disappeared. Suddenly it was replaced with all the meaning in the world, just standing a few feet away from him, smiling back that amazing grin.

  Her thick black hair was pulled into a plain limp ponytail behind her head, and her warm brown eyes were soft upon locking down on him. Her smile when she finally spotted him still amazing, but soft and sensual at the same time, like the look someone gave when they had truly found their one and only soul mate. The dark blue coveralls she wore, as unflattering as they ever were, almost complimented her flawless brown skin and even if they didn’t shape against her body, he knew there was nothing short of perfection underneath.

  “Hi, Henry,” Ella greeted in that same thick accent that drove him insane in all the best ways. Without another word needing to be said, Henry broke into a light jog and closed the distance between them in a matter of seconds.

  “Hey yourself,” He said with a grin, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “I missed you so much today.”

  “I missed you too,” She said with a rather adorable pout on her lips. She sighed softly, running her finger against the back of his neck. “I need to find a better job. Or at least get put on a better shift. I hate not seeing you throughout the week.”

  “I hate not seeing you too, but this place has great benefits, it has good health insurance…” Henry said weakly, almost like he was trying to convince himself as much as her.

  “I know, I just feel like I never see you and I feel like I can’t escape this stupid job.” Ella sighed.

  Henry frowned gently down at his wife. As much as Henry hated his job of inputting numbers all day, he knew his hatred was minimal compared to her dislike of cleaning up after a bunch of white collared pampered princes like the people Henry worked with. Some even had the gall to treat Ella like she was their own personal maid, ordering her around and purposely making messes, just to laugh when she had to clean them up, like it was a joke in itself that she did her job.

  Henry took her hands in his, bringing the back of them to his lips and kissing her smooth skin. “Things are gonna get better, Ella. You just… You gotta have faith in your dreams. It doesn’t matter how your heart is grieving, you just have to… You know… Keep on believing…” He wanted to tell her that with conviction. He wanted her to have faith, but most of all he wanted her to believe that things would get better.

  But he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to muster up that energy or that faith and trust that they both clearly needed. How could he expect her to believe him when Henry didn’t even believe himself?

  Ella snickered and raised her brow. “That might be the cheesiest dorkiest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

  Her laughter, no matter how light and half hearted, immediately brightened his day. Henry grinned at her. “Yeah but it made you happy, so that’s a win.”

  Ella just chuckled and nodded her head, giving him a quick kiss on the lips, grateful for the attempt, even if it hadn’t lasted very long. “I love you so much, Mi Vida.”

  “You know, you’ve been calling me that for years. I don’t think I’ve ever asked you what it means before,” said Henry as he draped his arms around her waist.

  Ella just chuckled again. “I kinda like you not knowing…”

  With another quick kiss to last them until they saw each other. Either when Ella came home after her shift ended at midnight and Henry was still managing to keep himself awake long enough to greet her in bed, or for the short hour in the morning while they got Lucy ready for school before he left her to start his own day.

  A half hour later, Henry had pulled into the driveway off the street and walked into the cookie cutter house. He paused on the doorstep and glanced around, once again taking note of how the building in front of him looked the same as every other house on the block either side of it. The only difference being the chalk drawings and baby blue child’s bicycle on the well manicured front yawn. Before he could glance anywhere else, he stepped inside through the door and was greeted by the best sound in the world.

  “Dad!”

  Henry’s face broke into a wide grin as Lucy leapt off the couch and ran over to him. He’d barely had time to shut the door behind him before she was wrapping herself against his waist, letting his own arms fall back around her in turn.

  “Hey there, Lucy!” Henry said with a beaming smile, returning the hug. “How was school?”

  “Good! I beat Chad McConnell in a foot race and he told me to go back to Mexico so I told him I was half Dominican and completely legal. And then I punched him in the throat.” Lucy said brightly.

  “That’s my girl!” Henry said, not bothering to hide his proud amusement. “You get in trouble?”

  “Nuh-uh. Only Ms. Ramirez saw it. Later, she gave me a high five.”

  Laughing lightly, Henry leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Good girl. Whatcha watching?” He asked, guiding her back into the living room where he poked his head in and saw a very familiar animated woman twirling and singing on the TV.

  “Princess and the Frog,” Lucy answered, skipping over to retake her seat and resume watching the film. “This is my second favorite Disney movie but it’s kinda telling that the only black Princess spends half her movie as a frog.”

  “Agreed but quit trying to make Disney movies political,” Henry told her, getting answered with a roll of his daughter’s eyes but she nevertheless stilled the political commentary.

  “You finish your homework?” He asked as he stole a handful of her popcorn from the bowl sitting in front of them.

  “Yup.”

  “Any tests to study for?”

  “Nope.”

  Another kiss on top of her head and another handful of popcorn. “Enjoy your movie.”

  Henry headed into the kitchen where dinner was fully prepared and waiting. He just had to put everything in the oven and cook it all in the familiar system that the two parents had worked out over the years so that Lucy didn’t have to eat too early or too late. Ella did all the prep work and picked her up from school, while Henry did the actual cooking itself, making sure dinner was usually done by six thirty - seven at the latest if something happened to come up.

  Today, chicken cutlets in spiced buttermilk was chilling in the fridge, with a bag of frozen green beans in the front of the freezer and a flour mixture along with a pot of cut and peeled potatoes on the countertop. Apparently, Ella had decided on boiled potatoes, green beans and fried chicken for dinner tonight.

  After sorting through the things laid out for him, Henry fed the cat; a little orange tabby they called Simba which, according to their lease, they weren’t even supposed to have but Ella HATED mice and Lucy loved animals. So with those two ideas in mind, they had gotten him anyway and hid his presence from their landlord during any unwanted visits he might make. After Simba was well fed and happily purring in the corner of the kitchen, Henry turned and started on their own dinner.

  By nine o’clock, Lucy was fed, fresh from a bath with her homework done and her teeth brushed. Once finished spitting out the last of the minty paste, she ran into her room and jumped, bouncing against the mattress and sitting up in her bed. As quickly as the bounce wore off, so did the excited expression on her face, replaced with a bored look instead as her dad sat beside her. He once again began failing miserably as he tried to tell her a story of his own making like he did almost every night.

  “Once upon a time there was a prince,” He began, an almost nervous jitter to his town, as if he was doing a processional reading for a full auditorium rather than reading a bedtime story for his daughter. “He was being driven around…” Henry continued, struggling for his mind to keep up with his mouth. Unfortunately, once he had caught up with himself, he then struggled to come up with something else to follow that sentence. It was an odd feeling to describe, but it was like something was actually preventing him from coming up with anything clever or fun or entertaining to tell her. “He, um, drove around for a long, long time… Driving and driving...  It was a long trip... He fell asleep… When he woke up, they were still driving... The long drive went on-“

  “Dad,” Lucy groaned, leaning back against the headboard. Henry sighed at the pityful look on her face before he threw his hands in the air. “Fine, fine, no made up story tonight.”

  He went over to her painted white bookshelf and began browsing through the books lined across each shelf. He made a big show of taking them all in, all the while already knowing exactly what one she was going to choose. He wasn’t sure why he even bothered, but every night he somehow convinced himself that maybe he could suggest something else that night that might surprise them all and strike her fancy.

  “Okay; we’ve got Mother Goose, Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz, Snow White - that’s my personal favorite if we’re being honest.” He glanced back at her and winked playfully before turning back to the shelf and continuing to list off titles. “Tales of Robin Hood, Little Mermaid…”

  “I choose…” Lucy mused, pretending to think it over before bouncing on the spot slightly with her answer. “Cinderella!”

  Henry sighed. “Again?”

  “Again! It’s my favorite.” She said simply with a shrug.

  At this point, Henry didn’t even need the book to read. He had it so well memorized after years of staring down at the pages almost every night, but he still grabbed it regardless, pulling it from the shelf and holding it carefully between his hands. It wasn’t going to collapse at his touch, but it was hard not to treat it carefully like it might. It was so heavily used and faded, even drawn on - though not with childish scribbles but rather with the crayon that Henry had taken from Lucy’s set when he began working on coloring over the blonde hair and pale skin. He’d spent over an hour on the cover alone, being careful to make it and all the illustrations inside as perfect as he could. After that, he had even gone so far as to change any instance of text inside where she was referred to as having ‘beautiful blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes’. Instead he replaced it all with ‘beautiful  _ brown _ hair and dazzling  _ brown _ eyes’ like that of Lucy and her mother.

  He took his previous seat back beside her bed, opening the cover of the well read book and carefully balancing it on his knees. Only when they were both comfortable, did he begin reading.

  “Once upon a time, in a far away land,” he began. “Lived a beautiful young woman named Cinderella. After her father passed away, she was forced to live with her wicked stepmother and her two ugly stepsisters…”

  Two stories later, Lucy was fast asleep and Henry was sitting back on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa in his hand. He’d made sure to pick up some cinnamon last shopping day, so he could have the drink exactly how he liked it. He sat watching the Chiefs annihilate the Rams in the Thursday night game but used it more for noise in the background then actual entertainment worth watching. His mind was far too preoccupied with other thoughts to even care about the scores at the moment.

  After all, what kind of father couldn’t even make up his own story to tell his kid at bedtime? What kinda husband couldn’t get his wife to believe that things would get better and bring a real smile back on her face? What kind of father and husband was he?

  After the game was over, he finished up the dinner dishes and decided to call it an early night and head to bed. He read a little bit - some boring accounting magazine left on the side - and tried his hardest to stay awake in the sheets so he could see Ella when she came home. But despite his best efforts, the same as it was most nights, he couldn’t quite manage. Just an hour before his wife was set to return, sleep overtook him and he slumped down against his pillow.

  That night, Henry had a vivid dream of a blonde woman in a red leather jacket standing beside a brunette with brown eyes. The two of them were arguing and fighting over him of all people. But not in the way a typical grown man would dream about a beautiful blonde and a femme fatale brunette fighting over him. Instead it was like they were two divorced parents fighting over his custody.

  At the same time he dreamt of a gallant charming Prince and beautiful dark haired Princess hugging him and affectionately calling him their grandson even though they were barely a couple years older than him.

  And he also dreamt that he was a boy, flying through some dark forbidden place, side by side with someone he knows deep down that he shouldn’t trust.

  The dreams came in such sharp flashes that they weren’t all easy to follow. Some were blurred and confusing. Some made no sense - like he saw himself running from a dalmatian dog - and others were like something out of Lucy’s books - like a glass slipper he could see so vividly in his mind. But one thing they all had in common, was that they all felt somehow magical.

  And then the flashing slowed down as he dreamt of the same brunette that was fighting over him earlier, now giving her life to protect his outside of a church where the bells were ringing. Followed by a dream of the blonde laying cold and still on a street. She didn’t move until Henry leaned over her and pressed his lips to her forehead. Then she awoke with a burst of beautiful white light…

  And with that light, Henry awoke with a gasp of surprise. There was a sheen of sweat covering his body as he quickly forced his still half asleep limbs to sit up in bed, trying desperately to hold onto his dreams, of everyone and everything, but especially the two women he had seen. The women who had sacrificed for him and whom he had helped save.

  He glanced over at the clock on the side, frowning when he realized he had only been asleep for an hour at most. He still had at least twenty minutes before Ella would be home and another hour and a half at best before she came up to bed.

  Leaning back against his headboard, he struggled to remember the details of his dream, of princes and princesses and magic and noble sacrifices and terrifying villains they had faced. He focused on them as best as he could, hoping he might be able to save them in his mind, allowing him to later tell Lucy a decent story from it all…

  But like every dream he had, the details all too quickly slipped away, leaving him with nothing but the two faces of the two women left behind. One was a touch more warm, the other a bit on the sterner side but he just knew that both would have died and killed for him... Had they been real of course.

  Henry had a relatively boring family. His mother and father were both only children, as was all four of his grandparents and none of them were particularly fun or exciting to be around while they had been alive. His mom was a old fashion housewife, and his father worked in an office building in mid level management, not much different to Henry now. There was no extended family, no exciting adventures with siblings or cousins or aunts and uncles or step parents or anything of the sort.

  If the color beige could be used to describe a group of people, it would be used perfectly for Henry’s family.

  Apart from Ella and Lucy, he didn’t have anyone else. After his mother and father had passed away, his wife and daughter were all he had left in the world. And Henry was terrified that one day, Lucy would look back and think that her life with Henry and Ella had been just as mediocre as his life had been with his parents. That wasn’t how he wanted her to live but it seemed to be the way they were going...

  Shaking away the image of the two women looking at him sadly, no doubt wondering why he hadn’t given them more in life, Henry breathed a deep sigh. The last of the dreams were all but gone now and he had resigned himself to being just as boring as his two nuclear parents had been.

  And with that last thought, he lay down and fell back asleep for another confusing night, full of dreams he wouldn’t remember by morning.

 

Please Review!

 


	7. Chapter 7

We own no one but our own people 

 

  “Robyn... Robyn! … ROBYN!”

  The blonde archer jumped half a mile as she turned sharply to face the brother, who had all but screamed her name so suddenly, she expected to see his hood on fire when she looked a him.

  “What?” She barked, not meaning to be so sharp but unable to stop herself. She was so on edge, it was all she could not not to start punching things.

  Roland quirked a brow at her as the two siblings continued their trek through the woods that the older Hood knew so well. Regina had gone a little way ahead, clearing a path through the brushes and trees. She was keeping herself prepared even as she worked, making it so her magic would be the first line of defense should they run into any trouble.

  “I just wanted to ask if you wanted a drink.” He said, holding out a skin of water to her. After a moment of shy guilt, she accepted it with a muttered apology.

  As the small party continued their march through the woods, Robyn wasn’t the only one suffering from guilt. Unknown to the others, Roland felt the same guilt that had been lingering since this mess began, continue to eat at him. In fact the knotting in his stomach and the bile in the back of his throat was more clear now than it ever had been before.

  This wasn’t right, this wasn’t supposed to happen. He didn’t know ANY of this would happen. He thought everything would be fine. He had no idea Hope would react to what happened to her like this. If he had known Alice would be put in danger or that this uncontrollable darkness would consume his one time friend, all because of Rolands choices...

  “We’re gonna find her,” the thief said out loud, pushing his own thoughts down and trying to drown them out with his voice. He was speaking more to himself than his sister at this point but she didn’t notice and took it as a statement meant to lift her spirits.

  “I know,” Robyn replied as she glanced down to the dry brown leaves crunching beneath her boots, frowning at the sound they made, hating them for bringing back painful memories.

  Like when Robyn had told Alice all about Fall in Storybrooke. The cute curly hair blonde couldn’t wait to go there and spend it with her archer. It was a sweet memory once but now it was almost close to painful.

  Robyn wanted to have Alice back. She wanted to snuggle up to her fiancée on their couch dressed only in Robyn’s T-shirt as a blustery wind blew outside. She wanted them back to be back in their warm and cozy little apartment. She wanted her to try some of aunt Regina’s homemade hot apple cider, and to pick out their first Halloween pumpkin together at the Charmings farm. She wanted to take Alice into the forest Robyn loved so much and have her jump in the leaves with her, with that same laugh that made Notre Dame's bells pale in comparison, staring at that large toothy smile that made Robyn feel like she was floating just from a quick flash of it.

  Instead, their first autumn here was spent separated, with Alice in that blonde psychopaths clutches while Robyn desperately looked for her. It was so wrong.

  “I should have been there for her.” Robyn admitted after a few uncomfortable moments of silence between them. The only other sound was that of the Merry Men’s low conversations off to the side and the crunch of the fallen leaves under their trampling feet. Unbeknownst to Robyn, her heart was full of as much guilt as her brothers. “I should have looked out for her.”

  “You did,” Roland assured her, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder gently. “She’s an adult with a life. You couldn’t watch her twenty-four seven, Robyn.”

  “I could have done more than what I did. Okay I-... I didn’t know how mad Hope was with us but- I mean Alice explained over and over that it was an accident. She felt so… It was bad, Roland. She wouldn’t eat, she never got out of bed, when she wasn’t in tears, she was pouring over that stupid spell book to see where she went wrong and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what happened or what made the spell turn out so bad.” Robyn shook her head in frustration. “I mean… She did EVERYTHING right, Roland! It just doesn’t make any sense!”

  It was Roland’s turn to look down at the leaves. He was now suddenly focused on the specifics of how they were crunching and cracking beneath his doeskin boots.

  Suddenly the bow Roland was carrying - inscribed with the letters ‘ROL’, carved in the yew wood at least sixty years prior - felt as if it weighed a hundred extra pounds in his grip. His arm ached at the pressure, and the lion on his forearm burned as much as it did the day he got it.

  But he couldn’t let Robyn know.

  He couldn’t let anyone know. Things had gone too far and he was in too deep for him to come clean now.

  “I know Alice feels guilty,” said Roland carefully. “And I’m not blaming her at ALL but… Magic isn’t perfect. She shouldn’t have done it unless she was sure nothing would go wrong. We all know that magic is dangerous, you and I know the pain that it can do more than anyone.”

  “Yes, yes, we all know you hate magic,” Robyn muttered with a slight tension to her voice, and a roll of her eyes.

  “It's not some irrational hate. Magic is... Magic is a plague, Robyn.”

  “Okay, you need to just stop and remember that my fiancée has magic.” Robyn snapped as she stood in front of him, stopping him as she put her hand out to stop him. “So does most of my family, and our friends. And did you conveniently forget that I had magic at one point?”

  “I’m not saying people who use magic are all bad,” he assured her quickly. “But magic itself is. If it weren’t for magic, my mom, our dad, all the innocent people in between, would all still be alive. Even Regina and Emma and Snow and Hope, their lives, everyone’s lives, wouldn’t have gone to shit if it weren’t for magic. I mean, I almost died because of magic…” He came to a pause and sighed, shaking her head and looking away from her scornful glare. “Magic brings nothing but pain.”

  Robyn pursed her lips, biting back the sting of tears that always accompanied her when her brother brought up this particular argument. She didn’t like fighting with him, and normally she simply changed the subject or turn away and let him rant himself into silence. But this time, she found she wasn’t quite in the mood to keep her mouth shut as he bad mouthed a part of Alice that made her - and their friends and family - who she was.

  “You know what magic also brought? Besides pain and suffering and death? It brought me life. And it brought Alice life. Someone who I love more than anything else and who is still missing and who needs my help.” She hastily wiped at the tears in her eyes, the leather of her gloves rubbing her eyes rather harshly and leaving a painful sting behind. “So if we could quit with the magic shaming and get on with finding her, well that would be just brilliant.”

  Before Roland could say another word, there was a distant sound of a sizzle, like fat being melted down over a campfire. Quickly followed by an explosion that shook the ground they were standing on, along with a bright burst of purple light that made them all jump a foot into the air as it flashed overhead.

  “What the hell was that?” Roland demanded, looking up at the shining purple beam of light.

  “That’s Henry,” came Regina's voice. She appeared, hurrying over to the group and reminding them of the magic she had given everyone in order to stay in contact. “He found something.”

  The Queen lifted her hands to, Robyn assumed, transport them but stopped short after seeing the look on Rolands face. There was an awkward second where they hung there before she lowered them back to her side and Robyn had to bite back her frustrations.

  Sensing his sister’s annoyance, Roland felt some irritated tension at the idea of magic vanish and he nodded towards Regina. “I’m a fast runner, I’ll be there soon,” he promised. “Use your magic for everyone else.”

  Not wasting time to argue a losing battle, Regina lift her hands back up and poofed the rest of the group and herself across the ground to where the beam of light was coming.

  The second her purple smoke cleared from around them, Zelena and Rogers appeared in a similar cloud of green. And a moment later, light grey smoke appeared a few feet away, fading like the others and leaving Emma and Hook in its wake.

  “What happened?” Regina demanded when she saw a crying Lucy clinging to a bruised and battered Henry alongside her mother.

  “Kid, you alright?” Emma added, looking between Ella and Henry before turning her attention to her granddaughter. “Lucy? What are you doing here, you’re supposed to be back at the castle.”

  Henry opened his mouth to explain in a way he hoped wouldn’t send Regina over the edge but unfortunately an eleven year old girl didn’t quite understand the same subtleties. At least not when it came to the woman she only knew as Regina, her smiling grandmother who made her homemade apple turnovers and let her play in her jewelry box and called Lucy her ‘little princess’. She certainly didn’t know her as the ‘Evil Queen’ with a hot temper and the ability to hold a grudge that spanned decades.

  “Hope attacked my dad.” Lucy said with a sob as she clung to her father tightly. “She- She almost killed him!”

  “But I’m fine!” Henry assured Regina when he saw a roaring flame come to life in her brown eyes. “Really, I- It was more to scare me than anything. She let me go.”

  “She was choking him and held her sword to his throat and threw him into a tree!” Lucy shouted, still wide eyed from shock.

  Before Henry could try to defend his sister, Regina whipped around and glared at a guilty Emma, treating her with such a dark look, almost as if she was the one who had hurt their son. 

“Your daughter did this.” She snarled, gaining the attention of Hook and Emma. “She almost killed our son because you don’t want to see what she is now!”

  “She let him go!” Emma reminded her sharply, being answered with an infuriating scoff.

  “Well I suppose that makes what she did all better? That makes everything okay, right? What are we supposed to do, Emma? Just wait until she actually kills Henry properly next time before you do anything? Maybe you just want to wait until she kills Lucy as well!”

  “Will you shut up! You’re scaring her!” yelled Emma as she saw Lucy’s brown eyes widen in terror.

  “She should be scared!” Regina shouted. “We should all be scared! She might show up now and kill us all!”

  “Love, calm down,” Hook said to his wife, putting his hands on her shoulder to stop her from storming up to a very irate Regina. But while he was able to physically stop her, he was unable to stop the verbal bout that was happening back and forth between the two women.

  “That’s not gonna happen!” 

  “You don’t know that! You don’t know what she’s gonna do! She isn’t who you think she is anymore, Emma!”

  Tears sprung to the blondes eyes as the Queen voiced the fear she had been feeling since this all began. Hope WAS still her little girl, she was still her little blue eyed beauty, and no matter what happened to her, no matter what Hope did to Alice or anyone else, Emma HAD to believe that Hope was still in there somewhere. She was her mother, and that was her job.

  “Your father supported you!” cried Emma. “After everything you did, after all the people you hurt and the lives you destroyed, he still supported you!”

  “And I can't tell you the amount of times I wish he hadn’t! Sometimes I wish he had just put an end to me before I did it to him!” 

  A silence took over the group at the heartbreaking admission. Zelena walked over to Regina and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, offering her some silent support.

  Very rarely did Regina talk about her father and rarer still did she speak about his death so openly. Emma didn’t even know what had happened to Henry Sr until only ten years prior when Regina had gotten so drunk on the anniversary of her father’s death that she had unknowingly and unwillingly spilled her deepest secret to the sheriff when she was taking her home. It was the first time Emma could remember Regina letting herself get so out of it. It was shocking, even without the confession added on top.

  And surprisingly, the confession was still as shocking to hear a second time round. For half a moment the savior swore she saw the rare sight of tears in Regina's eyes but they were gone before she could be sure.

  “I ALWAYS wanted him to stand up to my mother when she hurt me. To stand up to Leopold when he asked me to marry him. I wanted him to stand up to ME and put an end to my unhappiness when I started to turn evil, but he never did. Because he was like you; he thought I was still in there, he thought I was still that wide eyed little girl who liked riding horses and guess what, Emma, I wasn’t. Maybe it’s time you accept that Hope isn’t either.” Regina said, the whole time speaking with a disturbing calm to her voice.

  Emma swallowed hard as her words settled an uncomfortable weight in her chest. After Regina had finished, there was an awkward moment that took over the party, all watching as Regina took a shaking breath and smoothed out her dark colored dress while Emma hovered in front of her. No one spoke, no one moved. Everyone just waited for someone else to break the tension.

  All the while everyone else was wondering what would happen next, Emma was having an argument in her head, trying desperately to refuse Regina’s harsh words.

  After all, Hope was not Regina. Hope wouldn’t curse hundreds of people just to satisfy her need for revenge. She wouldn’t do all the awful things that the Queen did. Hope wasn’t manipulated by forces far powerful than her, and she had grown up in a healthy loving family‍ with loving attentive parents who taught her right from wrong.

  Hope. Was. Not. Regina.

  “She let Henry go,” Emma reminded the Queen. “She didn’t hurt Lucy. You have to see that a part of Hope is still in there. A part of her that can still be saved that hasn’t done anything that she can’t come back from yet. We have to give her a second chance just like everyone else has been given.”

  “We gave her a second chance.” Regina said coldly.

  “Then we give her another one! And another! And as many as it takes for her to come back to us!” Emma shouted, losing some of her attempt to stay calm as her desperate panic took over. “She is my daughter, Regina. I won’t give up on her, I can’t. If you want to, if all of you want to, then go ahead, but I will NOT stop fighting for her.” She fell quiet for a moment before taking a breath and looking Regina square in the eye. “No more than you’d stop fighting for Henry if he was the one who needed it.”

  Another bout of silence followed for the third time. Only this time, Emma was relieved to see some of the fury in Regina’s eyes die away.

  “Fine. But what exactly are we gonna do? She’s dangerous, Emma, even you can’t deny that. And I don’t wanna take a chance that she won’t let Henry go if she runs into him a second time.”

  Zelena, who had been silent up to this point, pursed her lips together and hummed softly. The others could practically see the gears turning in her head as the pieces clicked into place. “We can’t track Alice,” the red head needlessly reminded the group. “...But perhaps-”

  “Hey!”

  The sudden appearance of David and Snow caught everyone by surprise as the pair jogged over, closely followed by their son trailing behind. They looked tired and worn down, but otherwise uninjured and ready to help.

  “We saw the light, what happened?” Snow asked.

  “Long story short, Henry ran into Hope and-” Regina began.

  “Had some trouble.” Emma interrupted quickly. “But he’s okay and we’re planning our next move.”

  “Wait, what’s Lucy doing here?” Neal blinked.

  “She snuck out to help.” Ella explained, rolling her eyes and sharing a look with Snow.

  “She what-?” David began, turning to Lucy with his famous eyes of disappointed upset at the ready.

  “Um, hello?” Zelena interrupted. “I had an idea how to save the day. Well sort of. I mean it’s not a plan and it’s not going to save the day but it’s something and it’s more than anyone else has so I was just thinking it was a start-”

  “Mom. Your idea?” Robyn pushed.

  “Right. Well, what if, since we can’t track Alice. Well we could track Hope instead.” Zelena finished weakly.

  “No, that won’t work,” said Regina, shaking her head. “She’ll be expecting us to use whatever magic we have to find her. I mean we have the three most powerful people in the realm looking for her. There’s no way she won’t have every possible charm and spell up to keep her from being located.”

  Now it was Henry’s turn to frown as he rolled their problem over in his head. However he wasn’t quiet for long before his eyes widened and he snapped his head up. “Goblet of Fire!” He suddenly yelled out with a new beaming smile on his face.

  “... Is that some magical item I’ve yet to hear about?” Zelena asked, raising an eyebrow when her nephew just shook his head at her.

  “No, no, no. In the book,  _ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,  _ there’s this big competition and only people seventeen and older could join. So the guy in charge added an age line around the Goblet to keep the younger kids from entering and these two sixteen year olds drank an aging potion to be able to sneak over the line!”

  “Kid, I’m not seeing a connection,” said Emma, only to have a suddenly excited Lucy jump up and down beside her.

  “And they thought that everyone would use advanced magic so they just used a very basic potion!” The brown eyed girl added as her father and her shared an excited nod of agreement.

  Never before had Henry been so happy (or proud) of his daughter than he was in that very moment.

  “Their thinking was that Dumbledore would think it was so simple and so obvious that no way the line would protect against a simple aging potion!” Henry went on.

  “Okay, but again, what does that have to do with our current situation?” David asked.

  A slow smile spread on Regina’s face as she reached into her pocket of her dress and pulled out a small glass vile of the light blue potion. It was used often and so now everyone easily recognised it to be a very simple tracking potion.

  “It’s our best option,” She said to the group before turning to look towards Emma and Hook. “Do either of you have anything of hers?”

  “Aye,” Hook said, rather sadly as he reached into the pocket of his long black leather jacket and pulled out a stuffed light pink seahorse toy. It was faded and beaten down with age and had clearly been used often throughout the years and Hook held it close to his chest, like he was hugging it to his heart. “This was hers. I bought it for Hope when Emma first told me she was pregnant.”

  Regina held out her hand and after a moment of hesitation, Hook reluctantly placed the stuffed toy in the queen’s hand. As he stepped back, Emma reached over and took hold of his hook between her hands, standing closely against him for support as they watched Regina pour the contents of the potion on the toy. The effect was immediate, and the toy was suddenly enveloped in a soft blue light, lifting up out of her hand and left to float in midair in front of her.

  “Hold on a second.” Emma interrupted. “I may not be a… Potterhead like you guys, but didn’t Fred and George turn out to be wrong in the end? The line did protect against basic magic and they ended up with Dumbledore faces?” She hated being the bearer of bad news but she couldn’t bare another disappointment if this didn’t work out for them. “How do we know this isn’t gonna to lead us in circles or somewhere worse?”

  “We have to try,” Robyn insisted, watching the seahorse intently as it hovered and waited for the say so to begin guiding their way.

  “Henry, I’m sending you back to the castle with Lucy,” Regina turned towards her son and gave him a meaningful look. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”

  Both father and daughter looked like they were going to start arguing with her but when they saw the look on Regina’s face, they decided not to push it. Instead they choose to turn and hug Ella, Emma and Regina all once more tightly before the two Mills disappeared in a poof of purple smoke.

  They waited a few more minutes for Roland to join them. After which they took a moment to explain the plan to him and fill in the details of what had happened for him and the Charmings who were still missing a lot. After everyone was up to date, they finally allowed the toy to lift up and head off, following it with a desperate hope that it would actually lead them to Alice.

 

**Storybrooke, Present Day**

 

  “Here we go.”

  Robyn raised her brow at the insufferably quaint room as she, Alice and Emma walked inside and stopped in the doorway to take it in. There were two full sized beds with dated fading floral bedding over the top of them on one side of the room, pushed up against the wall with a very out of place watercolor painting of a bluebird hung over the top of them. In the two corners by the beds, there was a pair of simple standing lamps with yellowing shade over the top and a square bulky TV with rabbit ears on a wooden tv stand settled on top of a short dark brown set of draws opposite the beds. All this accompanied with a door in the far corner, leading to what she assumed was an equally depressing and minimally decorated bathroom. The whole area left a very cramped and uncomfortable impression on the young woman. Even the carpet, musty red and walls of faded orange made her feel like they were somewhere very typical, very bland, and very unwanted.

  Robyn didn’t know much about herself. But despite this, she was absolutely positive her true self would have despised something so provincial as she did now.

  Alice however didn’t seem to mind the decor in the slightest. In fact she didn’t hesitate to throw herself into the room and flop down on one of the beds closest to her. She bounced under the force and when Robyn looked over, she saw the other girl was grinning wildly with her eyes shut. “Oh, this is so much more comfortable than the hospital bed!”

  “Here,” said Emma, pulling something out of her pocket and handing it to Robyn. It was a hundred dollars altogether. “Me and Archie pitched in. Go to the thrift store tomorrow, get yourself and Alice some clothes and settle in a bit. I’m gonna talk to Granny and see if I can set up a tab that just bills the sheriff's station for now, but until then, here’s another twenty for food tomorrow.”

  The sheriff handed her the twenty dollar bill that Robyn silently accepted. It was a lot of money but she wasn’t exactly in a place to refuse it. So instead she stuffed the bill her pocket along with the rest and muttered a shy thanks.

  Emma promised to work nonstop on discovering their real identities and told them someone would be up later with some fresh towels so they could wash up before she finally left the two girls alone. She paused once in the doorway, looking back at them with a comforting smile before stepping outside and giving them some privacy.

  Robyn walked over to the bed that Alice was still laying on and slumped down on the edge beside her. She dropped heavily and there was a prominent frown etched on her face, even as she released a deep breath, drawing Alice’s attention back to her. Alice sat up on her elbows and gently nudged Robyn’s side with her foot.

  “Hey… you alright?” She asked.

  Robyn answered her with a short shrug. “I guess. I’m just… I don’t know. This town is so small and cute and perfect and… so suburbia and now I’m stuck here until Emma finds out who I am. It’s… Not… Not my kind of place. I’m just looking forward to finding out who I am so I can get back to it.”

  Alice pouted, fully sitting up now. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, at least you had a life prior to this. And someone who loved you. My family just… Dumped me in a mental hospital.” She muttered.

  Now it was Robyn’s turn to look concerned. “Well whoever choose to put you there didn’t know their ass from their elbow because I’ve never met anyone less in need of being in a psych center than you.”

  An adorably shy smile appeared on Alice's face and Robyn found herself smiling back. Just the sight of that look on her face, reached a happiness somewhere deep inside her that warmed Robyn through in all the best ways.

  “Well, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. But why would you think I had a life before I woke up here? Or people that love me for that matter? For all you know, I was some homeless vagrant that everyone ran out of town.”

  “That’s not true. I know it’s not because you’re sweet and kind and strong and beautiful,” Alice said as if all of the above was far more than obvious. “Who wouldn’t want to love you? Plus I saw the ring on your finger.” She nodded towards the ring in Robyn’s left hand, a curious gold band with a classically cut diamond surrounded by small emeralds and sapphires. It was obviously specially picked out and it had to mean she was married, or at least engaged, to someone lucky enough to land this beautiful green eyed woman’s attention.

  Had either Alice or Robyn looked closer to the ring, they might have seen a heart shaped arrow surrounding a tiny rabbit inscribed on surface of the metal. However unfortunately, the cute image completely skipped by the girls as they instead found themselves much more focused on the colour of each others eyes.

  “That’s gotta mean you have a husband out there somewhere.” Alice noted softly.

  Robyn let the compliments roll around in her brain for a moment, twirling the ring she too had noticed earlier. But then one word suddenly stuck in her mind...

  A husband…

  Out of what almost seemed like instinct to her, Robyn wrinkled her nose in what could be considered disgust at the word. Alice thought she must have had a husband. A husband with a deep voice, a muscular chest, a penis that he’d put inside her- Robyn had to hold back a gag at that one. Just the thought of a guy lying on top of her, hair all over his body and touching her in intimate ways...

  No. Definitely not. Robyn most certainly did not have, nor want, a husband.

  A wife on the other hand… Now that was another matter. One with smooth skin, soft velvety lips, firm breasts, long hair that Robyn could run her hands through and tangle her fingers in, a sweet tasting pink opening between her soft silky legs… Yeah. That sounded FAR better.

  “I um… I don’t think I have a husband,” Robyn said with a short giggle.

  “Of course you do.”

  “No, no, you’re uh… Not really hearing me. I don’t think I have a  _ husband. _ ” Robyn stressed.

  Alice narrowed her eyes in confusion for a moment before the realization struck. Robyn couldn’t help but laugh at the ‘oh’ shape that her mouth turned into and the widening of her eyes.

  “Ooh. Sorry, Love. Well, in that case, you definitely have a wife out there searching for you then.” Alice said firmly, bouncing back as fast as her realisation hit.

  “You think so?”

  “I know so. Like I said, you’re far too perfect not to have someone love you like that. And you ARE going to be reunited with them soon. True love can win out over so much more than what we’re going through.” Alice said with complete seriousness.

  Robyn laughed at the proclamation, raising her brow at the blonde sat beside her. “Now I’m not only married but I have true love?”

  “Why not? As of now, our lives are an open slate. We can imagine them as anything we want them to be.” Alice said, waving her hands out slightly.

  Robyn pursed her lips for a moment, sliding closer to Alice who, instead of pulling away, leaned in half a hand closer. “And uh… what do you imagine your life to be?”

  “I imagine myself being happy.” Alice told her immediately. “With someone who cares for me. I imagine that my love came and rescued me from that place and we ran away together and that’s how I wound up in Storybrooke.”

  “So you like to imagine yourself as a damsel in distress being rescued by a gallant prince?” Robyn asked, an amused smile tugging at her lips.

  “A gallant princess actually,” Alice admitted while a rather shy smile played on her lips.

  Oh… Well that was a fun new development… Robyn fought the urge to grin too widely.

  “A princess huh?” asked Robyn as she casually reached behind her to gather her hair in a ponytail. She didn’t hate having it lose, but she was much more comfortable when it was out of the way.

  Alice was about to confirm what Robyn correctly assumed, when she noticed a rather odd marking behind Robyn’s hair that she hadn’t seen before. It would be hard to spot with her hair down, and this was the first time Alice had seen her pull it back.

  “I think you have another tattoo,” The curly haired blonde said as she moved behind Robyn to examine the mark closer.

  Robyn bit her lip as she felt Alice lightly run her finger over the skin behind her ear. She was barely holding back a shudder as Alice leaned in closer and her soft sweet smelling breath hit the back of her ear so softly, it somehow stopped Robyn’s breath and she struggled to keep from making it obvious.

  It was certainly a rather enjoyable feeling and Robyn wasn’t about to complain any time soon, especially when Alice’s legs dropped down either side so she was straddling Robyn somewhat…

  “It’s a little pointy witch hat,” Alice informed her with a little giggle. “It’s actually kinda cute.”

  “So, I got Alice in Wonderland on my ribs,” Robyn said as Alice pulled away and took her spot beside her again, hiding the disappointment that came after their contact was broken. “The lion tattoo on my shoulder, and then a witch hat behind my ear… Well at least I know I have a high pain tolerance,” she muttered. “And apparently an obsession with the weird.”

  “I don’t know, I think it’s kinda cute that you have all these tattoos.” Alice shrugged.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Tattoos are… They’re like stories!” Alice explained, clicking her fingers before lifting her hand as if to stroke the witch hat behind her ear again but then thought better of it, letting her hand hover and wave to it instead. “They’re stories you care so much about that you want a part of them with you forever.”

  Robyn was severely disappointed that Alice stopped short of touching the hat. In fact she found herself wishing that Alice would have touched her tattoo again. Or, if she was being honest, Robyn would have happily liked it for Alice to touch any part of her…

  Robyn forced herself to concentrate and smiled at her. “I really like that take on it.”

  A group of butterflies began fluttering in Alice’s stomach at the sight of the green eyed woman’s smile directed at her. It had a hint of smugness behind it, like cockiness was something that came natural for her but it also held a warmth and a kindness that was true and genuine.

  Alice definitely wanted to see Robyn smile more often…

  They sat there, staring and smiling at each other and it even felt like they were unconsciously leaning towards each other for a moment when someone down the hall slammed their door shut. The noise made them both jump and snapped them back, taking away whatever moment it was they were sharing. Not sure what else to do, Robyn cleared her throat and picked up the remote from the stand nearest them, showing it to Alice. “Wanna watch some TV until we decide to head to bed?”

_   No, I want you to let me look at the rest of your body for other hidden tattoos,  _ Alice thought cheekily but instead of voicing that particular fantasy, she just nodded.

  Alice couldn’t help but feel a sense of something akin to relief when Robyn moved and settled herself against the headboard at the top of the bed, making plenty of room for Alice to move up and rest beside her. Soon they were side by side, their arms pressed against one another in a comfortable warmth. Alice happily leaned back, letting herself slump slightly against Robyn casually as she did and watched as the other girl flipped through the, admittedly, limited, channels on the TV.

  “‘Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves’ just started, wanna watch that?” Alice offered when she saw the movie show up on the guide.

  “Sure,” Robyn offered as she turned on the movie.

  They settled down and began to watch… Only for ten minutes in, Robyn began wrinkling her nose in disgust at the actor portraying the iconic thief.

  “He’s supposed to be this British icon so why does he have an American accent?” Robyn shook her head. “Plus he’s a Lord, like, he’s supposed to sound all posh and what not.”

  “I dunno, I kinda like American accented Robin Hood,” Alice mused.

  “Are you really into this movie? Or do you wanna watch something else? Sorry, but that accent is almost bordering on offensive,” Robyn explained.

  “No it’s okay. You can change it.” Alice shrugged. “I could watch anything to be honest.”

  Robyn began flipping through the channels again, trying to find another solid movie choice. It wasn’t easy - nothing was catching her eye and she was feeling like she really needed a distraction right now - when Robyn stopped short on an animated film with a grin.

  “Oh, this is the movie I got a tattoo from!” Robyn exclaimed as they watched the cartoon Alice walk along a dirt path.

  They started watching that film instead, only after a while, it Was Alice’s turn. She raised her brow at the character on the small tv and had a suspicious squint to her eyes.

  “She’s lost… But she’s just sitting there crying about it. And singing… What a little wimp,” Alice scoffed. “I’d ask one of those strange creatures for help if I was in her shoes. Or just pick a direction and walk it and see where it leads me. Or something! Not just sit there and cry about it.”

  “I think she’s kinda cute. You know, in an innocent kinda way,” Robyn argued but nonetheless picked up the remote again. “You want me to switch to something else?”

  “Not if you want to watch it.” Alice said quickly.

  Robyn shook her head, already flipping through the channels once more. She didn’t mind skimming through. She took her time, mostly because they were still limited, and after a while found herself stopping on a scene where a green skinned woman was yelling at a younger woman in pigtails and a blue and white gingham dress. It didn’t take long before she explained the green woman was furious at the younger woman for landing her house on her sister. You know, a common occurrence.

  “I mean, can you honestly blame her for being pissed?!” Robyn yelled at the TV. “Like, you killed her sister, stole her shoes, then threatened to murder her with another house. Like, I’d be pretty mad too!”

  Alice giggled, gaining the attention of Robyn. “Your eyes get really bugged out when you get mad, it’s kinda funny.”

  Robyn hesitated, wondering if she should be offended. But in the end, she chuckled, biting her lip once more to fight the urge from laughing hard and embarrassingly loud. “Well I’ll have to get mad more often.”

  “Nah. I think I like the nicer you better. If you wanted to get mad at Hope though, that I wouldn’t mind.” Alice grinned.

  Another grin, another flurrying of butterflies. “I’ll keep that in mind next time we run into her then.”

  Deciding to switch movies after Robyn decided she could not watch the ‘obnoxiously perfect Dorothy movie’, they finally landed on an fairly non-offensive animal documentary. One that told the story of how a fox and a rabbit teamed up in the wilderness during a harsh winter. It was a cute feel good documentary that they both watched in a comfortable silence. So comfortable that Alice even slouched down in her seat at one point and rested her head on Robyn’s shoulder. It was comfortable, and the soft feel of her hair against Robyn’s cheek was very welcomed.

  It wasn’t until the end of the end credits rolled around that Robyn realised Alice had fallen asleep. She had asked if Alice wanted to watch the next documentary and when she received no answer, she turned her head to find Alice was now fast asleep.

  Robyn smiled down at her, gently reaching up and stroking the blondes soft curls off her face, noticing how perfectly her head seemed to fit against Robyn’s shoulder, content to simply watch her sleep for a few moments before she finally turned off the tv. Being careful not to disturb her as she did, Robyn clicked off the lamp beside them and turned back to Alice. She didn’t want to disturb her by trying to move her to the other bed, so she settled for merely pulling the blankets up to cover both of them, lying her head on top of Alice’s, and shutting her eyes.

  Soon enough, sleep finally claimed her as well and the two girls had a peaceful night side by side with sweet dreams to follow.

—-

  “Madame Mayor, I don’t-... I don’t think this’ll be a good idea.”

  Sidney could practically hear the look of anger on the mayor’s face. “I don’t pay you to THINK, Sidney, I pay you to DO.”

  He flinch at the sound of her sharp voice as if she had actually slapped him. “But Emma and Leroy both-... they said Alice-”

  “I don’t care what they said or what they do or whatever! They did not get you that cushy little Chief editor job, nor did they set you and your goddamn wife up, and they certainly did not give you one of the biggest houses in Storybrooke!  _ I  _ did all that and now  _ I _ am telling to do this!” Hope’s voice was taking on a very shrill tone, like someone seconds away from snapping, if she hadn’t already.

  “O- Okay, Madame Mayor, I‘ll get it done. I swear I will. Tomorrow morning, first thing.”

  Hope responded with a loud short. “You better,” She then hung up without a goodbye.

  Sidney took a deep breath, setting the phone down on his bedside stand. He glanced over at his wife, biting his lip as he looked her over. Regina was dressed in a simple purple silk teddy that showcased her breasts and stopped just below her luscious ass, while her dark brown - almost black - hair fawned out on her pillow in a stretch of swirls and curls.

  He leaned down, moving the strands of hair from her neck and kissing her gently, inhaling the intoxicating scent of apples and cinnamon that rose from her. At his touch, Regina groaned, sleepily bringing a hand up and trying to bat him away. “I’m sleeping,” she grumbled.

  “Come on, Regina,” Sidney whispered, wrapping his arms around her and nipping at her ear.

  “I gotta get up early tomorrow… Sidney, stop,” she groaned when his hand trailed up her thigh and slipped under her teddy.

  “You can’t tell me that doesn’t feel good,” he moaned softly, grinding against her backside.

  Regina tried to pull away from him, pushing a hand against his stomach and pushing back. “Sidney… Come on, Sidney, knock it off.”

  Sidney huffed irritably as he pulled away from the brunette and lay back. They had an amazing sex life. Truly. Sidney’s memories were full of him doing whatever he wanted to Regina, wherever he wanted and whenever he wanted. He vividly remembered the way Sidney would easily make her beg for him, scream his name, and then she would gladly make him a sandwich afterwards like the most perfect wife. He didn’t even really need to waste time on foreplay for Regina to be satisfied with his performance.

  Today must have been an off day for her…

  But if at first you don’t succeed…

  Rolling back onto his side once more, he again closed the distance between them. Sidney kissed her neck again, his hand going back up her teddy once more.

  “Regina, come on,” Sidney pleaded, reaching out and grabbing her hand as she went to push his away. She turned to look at him, her resolve melting as he gazed at her with his big brown eyes.

  “Sidney, I’m so tired,” she protested weakly. “And I already told you, I have to be up early tomorrow.”

  “I know, but you just look so good right now.”

  His hand once again moved its way back under her teddy for a third time and began to snake around over her sensitive skin. While in the back of her mind she wanted to protest, a louder part of Regina told her- No, it  _ demanded _ that she enjoy this. It commanded for her to just let him do what he wanted and that he would make her feel good if she just let him… He was her husband, after all. It wasn’t like he was some stranger off the street or someone she never would have touched otherwise.

  So, when Sidney laid Regina down on her back and began to pull at her clothes, sliding them off her with a very ungraceful tugging, she tried her best to just enjoy it…

_ — _

_   “NO! No, no, no, no! Stop! Get off her! Please! Please, Regina, use your magic! Remember your magic! Remember who you are, Regina! PLEASE! GET OFF HER!” _

_   The blue eyed thief screamed as loud as he could into the abyss, left with nothing but to watch as Sidney pressured Regina into being with him for the night. He was left to watch in agony as her face twisted in one of pain as Sidney was both rough and unpleasant, caring for nothing but his own release. But thanks to Hope’s false memories, it made the former genie believe he was just so good, he didn’t need foreplay or to build up his pace, and instead he pushed straight into her with careless force. _

_   With Facilier, it was different. As much as it pained him to know, he accepted that she had wanted him. She wasn’t cursed to think a certain way. She had gone to bed with him willingly, of her own free choice. Facilier may have been a villain and he couldn’t pretend he enjoyed seeing it play out, but what mattered was that he made Regina happy and he treated her with true respect both in and out of the bedroom. Despite the pain it caused, all the thief truly wanted for his Queen’s happiness. _

_   Sidney did nothing and neither of these things. _

_   The unnamed tavern in some unnamed afterlife where Zeus had sent him to wait for his family - the best he could do for the thief seeing as even the King God couldn’t overcome death when the crystal was involved - shook with his rage like that of an Earthquake. Unable to physically stop or verbally warn Regina of what was happening, the thief still found that he tried to do whatever he could to stop Sidney from touching her by will alone. But sadly it seemed his will was not enough, and he was left to continue watching and listening to her painful whimpers piercing his ears like fingernails against a chalkboard. _

_   He focused and sent a phantom wind slamming against a window closest to Regina with hopes he might shatter the glass and interrupt the moment. He sent another feather down just inches away from her that she might have seen if her eyes weren’t closed tight, before it was swept under the bed and completely out of her sight. He even tried to slip into Robyn and Roland’s dreams to tell them to call her, to go over to her home, to do ANYTHING to distract Sidney and let Regina be free of him. _

_   All parlor tricks compared to what he tried next... _

_   The thief took a deep breath before closed his eyes, the image of Regina trapped under Sidney engraved into his mind even then. His hands clenched in fists, his entire body shook with concentration, a cold sweat ran down his brow and his whole body tensed and tightened… And for a moment, he felt it. For one moment he felt himself becoming more real, more whole. _

_   For one moment, he felt his body changing into something almost alive... _

_   But before it could take fully hold of him, his eyes shot open and he fell to the floor of his tavern, gasping for breath. All his strength left him in one go, leaving him weak and tired, like he could just collapse in on himself and disappear. Tears mingled with the sweat on his face as he heard his Queen beg her ‘husband’ to slow down, asking him to ease up on her, even just a little. And then he heard Sidney apologize but could sense that he did nothing to ease her discomfort as he continued slamming into her. _

_   It wasn’t time yet. Zeus told him he had one chance to do what he had tried just now. One change to make a difference to the people he loved. When the time came the thief would know to use that gift, the God had said, but apparently he didn’t know as much as he thought he did… _

_   He sat up against the wall, watching through the window to the world of the living the God gifted him as Sidney finished with a loud groan. Once he was completely satisfied, he rolled off her, breathing hard while Regina just rolled onto her side and shut her eyes, hoping for at least a few hours of uninterrupted sleep now that Sidney was finished. _

_   When he heard Sidney ask Regina to make him a sandwich and get him a drink, that’s when the thief waved his hand and the picture before him disappeared. _

_   He could no longer stomach seeing his Queen being treated like a slave… _

  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

We own no one but our own people 

 

  Hope reappeared in her castle in a burst of swirling dark blue smoke, a smug grin on her face that didn’t quite reach her eyes. As soon as she was back on her feet, she magicked a goblet of wine into her hand and drank a slow sip from it as she walked down the long dark hallway, her dagger heels clicking on the stone floors with each step she took.

   “Mirror, show me my brother,” Hope said, approaching the hanging looking glass. It stood out among the dark stone walls, even in the dim lighting, thanks to its lavishly decorated gold and sapphire frame.

  She stood in front of it, continuing to drink from the goblet for a few seconds before she raised a brow. She continued to wait but after a few more moments, the glass showed nothing but her own reflection as if it were an everyday piece of furniture rather than an enchanted object. 

  Finally Hope lost what little patience she had left, swinging her hand and spilling some of the wine to the floor. “Mirror! I said show me my brother! I need to know if the others have found him yet.” Another command, another few moments of being ignored. “Mirror? Mirror, I command you to show me Henry Mills…” Raising her voice to a shout, Hope made like she might throw the goblet at the clear surface. “Sidney!”

  Before she could smash it, however, the glass finally morphed in front of her. It shifted from her annoyed reflection to the dark face of a much older man with the dark blue inkyness behind his features.

  “Why did you ignore me?!” Hope barked, further annoyed by the rather smug look on the ghostly man’s face.

  “Just proving a point, your majesty.” He replied calmly, bowing his head slightly as he did, mixing rebellious with loyal in a way that Hope REALLY did not like.

  “And what point is that, exactly? That you’re incapable of following simple instructions?”

  His smug expression grew until it was almost wickedly gleeful. “No. I’m proving that you need my help. You need my powers, you need my abilities, you need me… Not the other way around.”

  Her own face hardened into a look of stone and she held up a hand, summoning a hot fireball to her palm. “You do need me, you pathetic waste of magic. You need me not to burn you alive!”

  “Try it,” he dared her. “And then try to find someone else to be your window to the rest of the world. And not just anyone. But you’ll need to find someone with genie powers like my own, otherwise you’re simply trapping an ordinary person in an ordinary prison.”

  Hope glared at the superior expression on the man for a drawn out second before she extinguished the flame in her hand with a flicker of her fingers. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and scowled at him. “Fine… You have the high ground, Sidney. What do you want from me?”

  The words left his mouth before she could blink. “If your plan fails, and you have to cast your curse, then I want power. If you cast this curse I want to be in a position of power.”

  “Fine, you’ll be editor in chief of the newspaper rather than just a reporter. Is that all?” Hope said impatiently.

  Sidney licked his lips, suddenly nervous, as if he wasn’t sure if he would get what he wanted but was forcing himself to ask regardless. “I want her,” he finally managed to say, his voice croaking slightly on the last word.

  “Who?” Hope frowned.

  “Regina. I want you to make it so I’m with Regina. I want power and I want Regina.” He said the last part in a rush, like he was making a secret confession.

  Hope raised a well manicured brow at the man in the mirror, though this time it was less irritated and more amused. “...Out of everything I’m able to do, any new life I can give you, all you want is to be able to fuck Regina?”

  “I want her to be my wife,” He corrected. “I want us to be happy and married. I want her to love, honor and obey and lay with me and love me like a wife should love her husband.” The words were coming faster and faster now, spurned on by the idea of being with the woman he loved since the moment he set eyes on her. Of her finally being his. “I want memories of us happy and in love, I want her to  **_want_ ** me.”

  Sidney knew she loved him. She told him as much when she asked him to kill Leopold for her. She was just frightened of the prospect of him being caught so she was trying to make him leave, for his own safety. Then came that stupid big eared thief, the one everyone said was her soulmate. Yeah, some great soulmate to choose his wife over her and then sleep with her own sister. The thief didn’t deserve the Queen, didn’t love the Queen; not like Sidney did.

  “There’s a thousand other women out there, women who didn’t trap you in a mirror for years, who might develop actual feelings for you,” Hope argued, for what reason she wasn’t sure. Why should she care who Regina ends up with while she was cursed?

  “I want HER,” Sidney demanded. “Or find yourself another mirror.”

  Hope pursed her lips, taking a slow sip of wine to keep her mouth busy and give her time to consider her options. She let the offer swim around in her mind while the wine swam over her tongue, hating that annoying little sliver of a conscious that was shining through the darkness and whispering irritably in the back of her mind.

  Unlike Sidney, Hope knew what Zelena had done to Robin and knew she was to blame for it all. She took his wife’s place and then she raped him while disguised. He had sex with someone he never would have touched with a ten foot pole if he had known the truth. She always was a little apprehensive around Zelena for that but Hope, in her childish innocence, believed her best friend when she said her mom was redeemed, and when she said Zelena paid the price for her crimes by losing her magic and even earlier, losing her own true love.

  Then there was Alice’s dad, the man who would have pretended to be her father and would have assaulted her mom with an unwanted kiss if he hadn’t been caught in time. It was a far less crime than what Zelena did to Robin, but even still; it made Hope a little weary around the man who looked almost exactly like her dad. Although, once more, she had been stupid enough to trust that blonde cunt when she said her father was a good man, a desperate man who didn’t know what else to do to lift his curse. Not that it excused his actions, which Alice admittedly never tried to do, but there was a pretty decent reason behind them...

  Now here Sidney was, asking Hope to condemn Regina to that same horrible fate that still made her skin crawl. Not only would she be sleeping with him, but she would think she was married to him, cursed to believe she was his happy doting wife, cursed to ‘obey’ him…

_   No, _ Hope told herself, hardening her features and willing the darkness to swallow up her hesitations.  _ Regina was given a choice, they all were. If she didn’t wanna be ra- sleep with Sidney then she should have chosen the right side. _

  Besides, it’s not like the curse was a guarantee. It was just if they managed to rescue Alice. She wouldn’t pay that price unless she absolutely had too.

  “Fine,” Hope finally agreed, trying her best to sound as nonchalant as possible. “You’ll be married to Regina.”

  “ _ Happily  _ married.”

  “Happily married.” Hope said impatiently. “Now; hurry up and show me my brother already.”

  Sidney smirked, sending an unpleasant shudder up Hope’s spine once again, before he nodded. “My pleasure, your majesty.”

  His face faded from view, and once again the surface of the mirror was replaced with the image of Lucy sobbing hysterically and hugging Henry tightly. She was still in the middle of the trees, but it didn’t quite look to be the same place that Hope had left them.

  “I’m alright,” Henry told his daughter, hugging the sobbing ten year old. “I’m okay, Lucy I promise…”

  As Hope watched Lucy sob inconsolably and hug her father tighter, her words became near indistinguishable. Her heartbroken features were shaking so badly that Henry had to crouch in front of her to hold her properly and even then she quivered in his grip. It didn’t take very long of watching her niece, for a tiny sliver of guilt to sneak through, replaced by a hardness in her heart. Almost to the point where she let it get the better of her.

  But before it could, she simply reminded herself: Henry choose Alice. Lucy choose Alice. Choices have consequences. This is what consequences looks like. They hurt. And that was their choice.

  With the guilt still mingling with her attempt to assure herself that this wasn’t her fault, Hope watched the rest of the scene play out. Even with the painful sight of her niece crying, she kept her eyes on the mirror surface as Regina and Robyn, Zelena and Rogers, and Emma and her father all showed up in a poof of colored smoke one after another.

  “ _ What happened?”  _

_   “Kid, you alright? Lucy? What are you doing here, you’re supposed to be back at the castle.” _

  Hope continued to watch as Regina turned and yelled at Emma. She watched and listened as she screamed at her and said the blonde should just give up on Hope, that she should give up on her daughter, give up everything and just end Hope’s life. And despite knowing this was what she thought, Hope still felt a slight irritation at how quickly Regina was willing to toss her side.

  Then; she watched as Emma squared her shoulders and looked at Regina. Her mother looked at the Evil Queen, at the woman who murdered hundreds of people, who cursed entire realms, who murdered her own father for her revenge… Emma looked her directly in her eyes, and told her that she would never stop fighting for her daughter.

  Hope swallowed hard as she watched Regina finally take a step back and agree to go back to just fighting for Alice’s release. She listened through as Henry came up with the plan to track Hope rather than Alice directly - an idea he got from one of his stupid books.

  At that, a smirk rose to her lips as she waved her free hand at the mirror. In seconds the image of the group following that pink toy seahorse that she thought lost forever, was replaced once more by Sidney’s ghostly face.

  “So, they want to try to use magic to track me…” Hope said aloud, finishing the wine in her cup. “It’s actually pretty smart, to be honest. And what’s really sad, is it might have actually worked if I hadn’t known about it. After all, I hadn’t thought of something as simple as an old fashion tracking spell that any idiot could conjure up.”

  “So what do you plan to do?” Sidney asked.

  Hope strolled around the room thoughtfully, as if she were deciding on which color drapes to hang on the windows. She took her time, enjoying the clicking sound of her shoes like they were a hanging clock. Then she stopped short by the far wall as a wickedly sinful look crossed her lips. She turned on her heels, scratching them over the stone, to look back at Sidney, directing a wildly crazed look at him with disturbing glee.

  “I know EXACTLY what to do,” Hope purred. “To that curly haired cunt, to Robyn, to Rogers, to my bitch of a mother, to all of them… They’re ALL going to pay.”

  Hope threw the goblet to the side and magicked it away at the same time. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke just seconds before it could loudly hit the ground. And with a second wave of her hand, before the cloud of smoke around the goblet had entirely disappeared, she poofed herself as well. Only instead of following the goblet, Hope instead sent herself into the dungeons of her castle, appearing in the middle of the room and immediately smirking at the woman hanging by her bruised and bloodied wrists.

  Her left eye was swollen painfully shut with red bleeding marks along the lids. Her face, and the rest of her body was entirely covered with bruises and cuts - some shallow and some that went straight to the bone. Every breath she took was painful to her chest and throat, as well as short thanks to the broken rib pressing against her lung.

  “Oh Alice,” Hope said rather cheerfully, an icy contradiction to the locale. “Time to wake up,  Alice…”

  Alice flinched at the sound of her voice but then immediately after had to bite back a cry. Even just the slightest movement was too much for her, thanks to the throbbing pain in her shoulder and she slowly lifted her head, barely having the strength to do so.

  “Water…” Alice could barely speak above a whisper. “Water...”

  Hope cocked her head to the side as if she were confused by the request. “I’m... I’m sorry what did you want? I couldn’t hear you.”

  “Water,” Alice begged again, this time a touch louder. “Please.”

  “If you want something, you’re gonna have to speak up.”

  “Water! Hope, please!”

  “I’m sorry, Alice, I just-.”

  “WATER!” She finally screamed, a sob catching in her throat at the end as she did so.

  Hope violently slashed her hand out too quickly for Alice to follow. But she still felt it. And she immediately cried out in shocked pain when a feeling akin to red hot metal sliced at the side of her neck. The hot feeling was then quickly followed by stream of blood sliding down over her sensitive skin from the shallow cut left behind..

  “You forgot to say please.” Hope said, surprisingly calmly considering her violent outburst.

  Alice swallowed hard, her throat scratching from the painfully dryness of it. When she spoke up, her voice matched with her trembling body. “P-Please give me-e water…”

  “Oh,  _ water _ ! Why didn’t you say so?”

  With a casual flick of her wrist, a new object appeared in her hand and Hope held up a rather large glass of clear cold water in front of her. She paused and then almost laughed at the pure relief in Alice’s big blue eyes.

  Hope held up the glass to Alice’s face just long enough for her to be sure she could actually smell just how crisp and clear the water was before she purposely dumped it out onto the floor right in front of her. The water spread into a large puddle by her hanging feet and trickled into the cracks, sliding away like small river, tormenting Alice as it abandoned her. Then, Hope lifted the now empty glass up, as if showing it off, before she magicked it away just as easily.

  The tears that gathered in Alice’s eyes made the whole thing worth the simple waste of magic and Hope sneered at her. “Anyway,” She said, not even bothering to say anything else about the water - after all, she didn’t need to. “I’m sorry I had to step away for a moment there. I know it’s rude to leave when you have guests but unfortunately it couldn’t be helped.” Hope waved her hand behind her as she began to pace slightly away, then glanced over her shoulder and watched with glee as the shackles not only tightened on her wrist but also pulled her further apart, making Alice cry as her already dislocated shoulder screamed in protest.

  “My parents, your father, Robyn, a few others… They all came to save you… Apparently they don’t know you came on this trip voluntarily.” Hope paused, still watching Alice’s face as she spoke. “So I went and paid a few of them a visit.”

  Fear, shock, anger, fury, hatred and a thousand other similar emotions overwhelmed Alice all at once. So much that she didn’t quite know how to show them all through the hot pain burning along her joints. Instead she just glared at her, glaring with every ounce of strength she had left to use.

  No! Robyn, her Papa; they weren’t supposed to come rescue her, they weren’t supposed to save her. They weren’t supposed to do anything or get involved in any way! Alice offered herself up as punishment for what happened, for what she did, but also to keep them and the rest of the people she cared about safe from Hope’s wrath. She couldn’t bare the thought of them paying for what she did. That wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair, damn it!

  “Don’t hurt them!” Alice begged as fresh tears flooded her eyes, no longer from the pain now. “Please! You promised! You promised you wouldn’t hurt them if I went with you!”

  Hope glared at the woman hanging before her and quickly stepped back up close again. Even before Alice had a chance to flinch at the sudden movement, she had slashed her hand again and again at her, new deep cuts appearing all up and down her unprotected body. “You promised me things too! You promised I would be okay but you lied!” Hope yelled over Alice’s painful screams. “You lied and now I’m some stuck here, as a person I HATE!” Despite trying her best to maintain an ambiance of control, a heartbroken sob ripped past her lips and tears stung in Hope’s eyes, escaping her control and streaming down her face. “I HATE this darkness you infected me with!” She went on. “I HATE this anger and this pain and everything else you forced onto me because you lied when you said you were smart enough to know how to cast a stupid fucking spell!”

  Alice’s lips trembled as she looked at an irate Hope, panting like a dog with unconcealed anger, so intense and uncontrolled, she was worried Hope was finally going to snap and kill her this time. Meanwhile Hope was having to fight the urge to do just that. She was hot all over and had a painful itching feeling along her limbs, a feeling she rarely felt before the day Alice ruined her life.

  Through all the pain still running along her bleeding wounds, all the tears still blinding most of her vision, all everything she had been through in the short time she was in Hope’s captive, Alice forced to speak as softly as she could manage with her shaking voice. It was her fault, afterall. She had been the one to somehow mess up the spell that caused all of this to happen. “I’m sorry for what I did,” Alice said as tears ran down her eyes. “I am, I never meant for you to get hurt.”

  “Apology not accepted.” Hope whispered.

  “But you don’t have to be this person, Hope,” She continued quickly as if Hope hadn’t of spoken up. “Just because you lost your light doesn’t mean-”

  But before Alice could finish, Hope reached out and pinched her fingers together, cutting off her breath until only a sliver of air was allowed in to keep her conscious. “You don’t get to tell me what it means or doesn’t mean,” Hope snarled at her prisoner. She slapped her fingers together so that her air cut off completely. Then watched with a sudden calmness as Alice struggled for air, kicking as best as she could and fighting to break her chains as if that would somehow allow her a breath, her mouth opening and shutting uselessly as she fought to stay alive.

  When her lips began to turn blue and her eyes fluttered, Hope finally drop her hand and released her breath. Alice gasped greedily at the air, filling her lungs with oxygen as silent tears rushed down her cheeks. While Alice gulped for life, Hope took a breath of her own to calm herself, smoothing out her obscenely tight leather ensemble until her heart race slowed to something more controllably.

  “Apologies for losing my temper. I’ll try to keep it under better control. But believe it or not, I did come down here to tell you something important. Your fiancé? More than anyone else, she’s determined to be the hero of this story; to be the gallant white knight that comes and rescues the fair maiden from the clutches of the evil witch and to save the day.” Hope snickered. “No wonder she likes to fuck girls. She thinks she has the biggest dick in all of Storybrooke.”

  Alice said nothing, just swallowed her fear and a cheeky response that if her fiancé and Hope did have that particular appendage, Robyn’s would absolutely be bigger than Hope’s.

  “Or maybe… She doesn’t like fucking girls? Maybe you’re actually just a boy with a very small dick in disguise… Shall we find out?” sneered Hope, a wild crazed look in her eye as she began making small circles with her hand and dark blue smoke began to pool at Hope’s feet.

  The smoke rose and rose tauntingly slow until it swallowed Hope whole and lasted for a long drawn out moment. It stayed there and Alice was confused as to what she was playing at when suddenly all the smoke sank back down to the floor and faded away into nothing much faster than when it appeared. After that, Alice was left staring wide eyed and terrified at what was left behind…

  “Hmm… No cock, but your legs are a bit short. It’s gonna be impossible to walk anywhere,” Hope said as she looked down at her new body, running her hand through her new lighter blonde curls with her new long short nailed fingers. All the while she was speaking in Alice's thick, cockney-like accent.

  She paused around the room, as if examine herself and practicing moving how Alice would. She was almost playing a game with herself, dancing around like she was wearing a new outfit she wanted to test before taking it out anywhere nice. Then she seemed to remember where she was and who she was with and came to a sharp stop in the middle of the room.

  “Now then…” Hope said, slowly approaching Alice again. Both captor and captive were looking into the exact same set of pale blue eyes to the point where it was disturbingly unnerving. “Let’s see if your archer can tell the difference between your short legs and mine…”

 

**Storybrooke, Present Day**

_   Alice was in a room. A single room, in a single tower, far away from any other town or village or anyone who might be able to find her. She was terrified and alone, dressed in a very old fashioned white blouse, a blood red corset and heavy dark red skirts, sitting in the middle of the room while two woman slowly approached her. An older woman with wild crazed curls like her own, dressed in strange dress like robes and Hope in, for whatever reason, tight dark blue leather. The two were different and yet they were both cold and crazed in the eyes, eager to trap her in this tower forever, eager to hurt her… Eager to kill her. _

_   “Please, don’t,” Alice begged the two murderous women, her voice trembling as she tried to shift away but for some reason was frozen to the spot. “Please, don’t hurt me…” _

_   They were almost upon her when, out of nowhere, a gallant hero shining bright with goodness and honor and pure light swung through the window on a thick rope. They moved with the grace and power of the brave valiant knights in all the old stories when they showed up just in time to rescue the captured princess and stop the evil, once and for all. _

_   However, unlike in the stories, her knight was dressed not in a suit of silver armor but dark brown suede pants and a brown corset over a white blouse, their face covered with a brown hood and holding not a sword but a bow in one hand and a quiver in the other. But even though the clothes were different, the way they held themselves and just the simple act of showing up was straight from Alice’s dreams. _

_   Without pausing after her grand entrance, her hero took out the woman with the curls first. Said woman, for whatever reason, immediately turned into a tree that was stuck firmly to the spot with small purple flowers growing in amongst her roots. Then, before the flowers had even finished blooming, the knight turned their attention onto Hope, just as the smaller girl gathered a ball of dark blue flames in the palm of her hand and prepared to throw it. _

_   “Look out!” Alice screamed at her knight, but she didn’t need to. Even before Alice had began to cry to her, the knight was already dodging the fire as if it was the kind of thing she did every day. The hero pulled another arrow from the brown leather quiver strapped over their back and set it in the bow they held, aiming true and landing the arrow right in the center of Hope’s heart, vanquishing the villain instantly as she collapsed onto the floor, also transforming, but into a puddle of sea water. _

_   Alice finally managed to climb onto her feet, no long stuck in place at their mercy. Feeling both brave and safer, she slowly walking towards the knight who, upon seeing her approach, turned to face her and lowered her hood off of her beautiful face. _

_   “Robyn?” Alice breathed when her eyes fell on her hero’s familiar features. _

_   Robyn smiled at her, standing there looking like half a knight and half a God, bathed in the beautiful sunlight from the open window behind her. It made her glow like a star, even when she moved away and walked over to the curly haired adventurer. As they met, Robyn stopped, getting down on her knee and gazing up at her with all the love in the world as she held out a dusk colored rose, just the way Alice always pictured it when she dreamt of being rescued from her tower... _

_   “Come back to me, Towergirl,” Robyn begged softly, her voice echoing slightly around the room. “Let me save you again. Please, let me save you…” _

...

  Alice’s eyes opened reluctantly, slowly, desperately trying to hold onto the dream for as long as she could, knowing it was something beautiful and important. But despite her best efforts to cling on, it had faded from her memory before she could cement it in her mind and soon, all she had was a vague feeling she often got when she had a dream but couldn’t quite remember what it was after she was awake.

  She had no memories of waking up, apart from the lonely morning in the hospital, but she was pretty sure this was the best morning she ever had. Memories or no memories, forgotten dream or not, it really was a perfect way to start the day.

  She woke up, laying half on the bed, half on the woman who shared it with her. Without realising it, she had been using Robyn’s chest as a pillow and her arms draped posessively around her. At least in turn, Robyn had her own arms wrapped securely around Alice, as if instinct had compelled her to hold Alice close so as to protect her somehow. She was going to be suffering from horrible pins and needles when she woke, having her arm pinned under Alice all night, but she had an odd and strangely strong feeling that Robyn really wouldn’t care about that.

  As well as having their arms around each other, their legs were also tangled together, in a way that was so comfortable, it was hard remembering they didn’t actually know each other all that well. In fact, Alice was damn near straddling Robyn’s leg with Robyn’s foot occasionally twitching against Alice’s like she was using her body heat to keep her warm. All in all, it was a rather enjoyable feeling if the blonde was being honest with herself. Smiling slightly at the feeling, Alice cuddled up closer to the woman sharing her bed and looked up at Robyn’s sleeping face. That familiar feeling of fluttering butterflies returned to her stomach and her smiled stretched slightly.

  She really was just so beautiful. Beautiful with dark blonde hair and green eyes like two pale emeralds - though they were currently hidden by her eyelids and the long black eyelashes attached. Alice shifted her head, glancing down at her tall runners body and, not that Alice had noticed until just now when her head was resting on them of course, a large chest that - if one were so inclined - could easily bury their face into. Not to mention that small hands like Alice’s would never have been able to cup entirely.

  Not that Alice had thought to try it or anything.

  And it wasn’t just her appearance. She had a certain smell about her too surrounded Alice’s senses. An intoxicating smell that whipped the butterflies into more of a frenzy; like crisp green apples and fresh pine and cinnamon whiskey all mixed into one scent that could only be Robyn’s and Robyn’s alone. It wasn’t something you could bottle or share. It was all Robyn, and it was just as beautiful and breathtaking as the rest of her.

  All in all, Alice never wanted to leave any of it. Not now, not ever. She was so warm and soft against Alice’s skin, and beautiful with the way her arms were wrapped around her. Once again Alice had a corny feeling like Robyn’s hold was protecting her from nightmares and horrors. That, mixed with the sight and small of the other women, brought a happy smile to her lips. She really would have been happy to stay there for the rest of the day, maybe even forever, if she could.

  But one single pastry for dinner and only hospital food before that didn’t exactly fill her stomach. It wasn’t long before she was growing hungrier, to the point where it was hard to distinguish what was still butterflies and what was just your normal growling stomach. However, as the growling grew louder, it soon became clear what was what.

  So, reluctantly, she pulled herself away from Robyn, being extra careful to unhook herself without disturbing her. While she would have liked to wake Robyn to join her, she also didn’t want to disturb the beautiful peaceful expression on her face either, and so left her in the warm bed alone. She tip-toed around the room, showered as quickly as she could manage before she dressed herself in the same leggings and sweatshirt from yesterday. Once she was ready, she downed the two pills Dr. Hopper prescribed for her, along with a mouthful of tap water from the sink, took the $20 Emma had given them for food and headed out into the quaint little town of Storybrooke with just one pause to glance back before she left.

  Since she didn’t quite know Storybrooke just yet, Alice figured the best and only way to learn about the location was by exploring it; which is exactly what she did next. She walked for a fair bit down this quiet street, glancing round at the buildings on either side of the road as she did, taking it all in. She didn’t have a destination set in mind and made her way up and down Main Street, looking at the little mom and pop (or mom and mom or pop and pop) stores that were just starting to open up for the day. The brief quiet movement of the people just waking up on this lazy Saturday morning was peaceful and welcoming among the soft yellow sunrise light being cast over their home. Alice smiled at the sight of the few people she could see and wished a good morning to all those she passed. And her smiled stretched when almost all of them returning the friendly greeting.

  She didn’t see what Robyn hated so much about this place. To Alice, it seemed like the perfect small little town. A place that was just full of warm hugs and apple pies.

  Eventually, her feet began lead her down to the docks and, the very moment she smelled the sea air, a spread of calmness overtook Alice. She inhaled the scent of salt and sea and shore and it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever smelt.

  After Robyn’s curious little scent from earlier, of course. 

  The docks were fairly busy compared to the rest of the town, bustling with the fisherman and workers not sparing much time to acknowledge the curly haired blonde walking among them, even when she paused to wave or offer a usual morning greeting. Halfway down the wooden floorboards, she stopped when she saw a fairly large statue by one of the remaining buildings, clean and otherwise free of any debris or graffiti coating its surface. It had a large concrete base and then an even larger silver colored metal anchor on top. 

  The gold dedication held a short but sweet message along the bottom.

  ‘ _ This monument is dedicated to the beloved father and beloved husband; Captain Killian ‘Hook’ Jones. He died bravely at sea and went down with his ship, as all loyal and faithful Captains should, in order to save his shipmates. The town of Storybrooke shall never forget him nor his bravery and sacrifice.’ _

  Hope’s signature was ingrained at the very bottom of the placard along with the date of his birth and the date of his death, only there was an error Alice noticed. It was with the date of his birth, as the second letter in the date read a six rather than a nine. Unless this man was somehow immortal, she highly doubted Killian Jones was over three hundred years old before he died. Alice moved to double check that was, indeed, a mistake whens he realised the statue was not completely free or graffiti. It seemed someone had crudely scratched a tiny seahorse into the metal beside Hope’s name, for whatever reason.

  She placed a hand on the anchor for a moment, as a way to pay her silent respects to this fallen sailor before she pulled away and carried on with her walk down the docks. After a few more steps, she leaned up against one of the waterlogged wooden barriers and looked out past the boats and the shallow choppy water to the low hanging sun shining just over the horizon… It was the most beautiful thing Alice had ever seen.

  Alice didn’t know much about herself but she did know; she was definitely a sea person…

  “I know that look,” a voice from behind suddenly boomed, surprising Alice. She turned and saw a man standing behind her with jet black hair, black scruff on his lower face and pale blue eyes. Very similar to her eyes, Alice realized, along with the same slight point on his ears and a similar accent on his lips as well. He was also handsome. Very handsome as a matter of fact.

  He had on a pair of dark colored jeans and black shirt with a black leather jacket over the top, not looking like either a fisherman or a dock worker. His left hand was in a black glove and Alice noticed that it never once twitched or moved or did anything but hang there by his side.

  “Your first time seeing the view, smelling the salt water air… It’s really great the first time you experience it. Not so much after the five thousandth, though.” He said.

  Alice chuckled and shook her head. “Nah… Don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing the sea. It’s beautiful, and full of endless adventures and possibilities.”

  “I remember when I was that idealistic,” the man said with a sad laugh as he leaned on the barricade and his eyes looked out over the sea. “It’s sad how age changes you. Lewis Rogers by the way.”

  Alice smiled at the man and shook Rogers calloused and rough hand. “Alice Carroll. I’m new in town.”

  “Yeah, I heard. You and that other girl are the talk of the town right now. Even if Storybrooke wasn’t a small little town, I think two girls with amnesia would cause quite a stir anywhere.” He said with a soft chuckle.

  Alice giggled back and nodded in agreement before she turned to look out over the ocean once more, but now with Rogers alongside her. She knew she should have been more nervous - a young woman on nearly secluded docks with a grown man dressed in dark leather but for whatever reason, she felt comfortable with this man. It was like she just knew she it was going to be okay, like she knew she was safe. Somehow, Alice knew Rogers wasn’t going to hurt her.

  “So what made you get tired of the sea?” Alice asked him. “I don’t think I ever could not want to look at it.”

  “It’s not so much I’m tired of the sea,” he explained. “I’m a dock worker, so I never leave this port. I see all the shops, all the sailors coming and going and I’m stuck here watching them, all day, everyday, for years… Eventually the sea just represents something I’ll never have rather than something that could lead to someplace else.” Rogers explained, rubbing the back of his neck with a sigh.

  Alice frowned at the man’s explanation. That was sad, horribly sad as a matter of fact. It made the blonde bite back her tears of sympathy as she imagined being trapped within sight of freedom but still unable to reach it. After she calmed herself and was sure she wasn’t about to start crying, Alice spoke again, asking him why didn’t he just jump on one of these ships and go on the adventure he wanted.

  At this, Rogers nodded towards his ankle and pulled his pant leg up, showing Alice a black plastic ankle monitor. “I made a mistake, so now I’m paying for it,” he told her with a sadness that Alice knew came from more then just not being able to sail. “I got drunk, very drunk, and did something I shouldn’t have done. Next morning I woke up in prison. The judge gave me 3-5 years, and got out in four. Only by the time I got out, my ex took our daughter back to England and I haven’t seen or heard from either of them since.” He swallowed hard, bowing his head in a shame that flooded off him.

  Alice frowned up at him again. The words cutting through her deeply in a way she couldn’t quite explain. In the end she didn’t bother trying to understand, and just bowed her own head as well, pushing a stone off the floorboard with her toe and into the sea.

  “I’m sorry you can’t be with your daughter,” Alice told him finally. “But at least she knows who you are, and she knows you love her, even if you can’t be with her. My parents, apparently they were fine with dumping me in a… A bad place,” she muttered, not quite ready for a stranger to know she had been in a mental hospital. “I don’t have anyone that cares enough about me to keep me out of there.”

  “Now don’t say that, love.” Rogers urged immediately. He waited until she was looking up at him before he continued with a gentle firmness. “You have to have people that care about you out there, I know you do. You’re too sweet a person not to have someone out there looking your way.”

  “You don’t even know me,” Alice told him, fighting a soft smile. “How do you know what sort of person I am?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just do. I can tell. You have a good soul in you, and good souls attract good people. Just how life works sometimes.” He shrugged, giving her a small comforting smile.

  Alice and Rogers continued to smile at one another before he finally glanced at his watch and told her that he had to get to work. As if on cue, Alice’s stomach reminded her of why she left the bed that morning, only now her hunger had expanded thanks to the long walk she had taken around town.

  After the two bid their goodbyes, Alice turned to walk away just when Rogers called out to her again. He waited patiently for her to pause and turn to face him once more before speaking: “I hope you find your family, Alice.”

  The blonde smiled again and nodded her head, an odd happy light feeling in her chest like an unknown weight had been lifted. She had no idea why but it was a good feeling and she almost unconsciously reached up to grab ahold of the small silver starfish charm on her necklace. After which she thanked him for his kind words and, still smiling, headed back into town.

  By now, the streets were a touch more crowded but thankfully they were still not overwhelming that Alice could still enjoy walking down them. More shops were open at this point, more set up than when she had passed by them the first time. The comforting warm delicious scent of fresh baked goods wafted from one particular shop; the same bakery Emma brought her and Robyn to last night and, she noticed with a grin, it had just opened fifteen minutes prior, meaning everything would be as fresh as possible!

  She stopped in and got a half dozen donuts, along with another green apple turnover specially for Robyn and an orange marmalade scone for herself. Then, for added measure, she brought two coffees to help wake them up before she headed back to the inn, drinks, donuts and pastries all gathered in hand.

  “Alice, that you?” Robyn asked from the bathroom the moment she walked through the door.

  “Yeah, I got us breakfast,” Alice announced, kicking the door shut and setting everything down before locking it behind her. “Donuts and coffee. Oh and I got you another turnover from that bakery we went to last night.”

  “Great! I was wondering where you went. Gimme a second and I’ll be right out.” Robyn’s voice sounded.

  Alice moved the box of donuts to a safer spot on the desk and had just reached inside for one - chocolate with rainbow sprinkles - when the bathroom door opened.

  “Got you a coffee,” Alice said immediately, grabbing it as she turned to face Robyn, holding the cup out to her roommate. “I got you just a regular cream and sugar. I figured that was the safest...”

  But what was safest, Robyn would never find out. Because Robyn was dripping wet and the only thing covering her was a small white towel, only a fair bit larger than a hand towel that she had BARELY managed to wrap around her. It was quite literally JUST enough to be as long as it needed so she wasn’t flashing her ass to the world. Not including what was between her legs to her new roommate. The sight of the miniature towel wrapped around her body so tightly was a shock and Alice suddenly lost the ability to speak.

  She licked her suddenly dry lips as she watched as Robyn walked (or strode - damn those steps belong on a catwalk!) over to the box of donuts. Alice realised she was using every ounce of self restraint not to let her eyes wander over her and not think about how she would have given her life to lick up the few drops of water running down her thighs.

  “Figured after breakfast we could hit the consignment shop,” Robyn told her, oblivious to what she was doing to Alice and missing the slight whimper when she leaned down in front of her to grab a donut from the box. The towel rode up and Alice purposely looked away, not wanting Robyn to think she was some creep trying to catch an eyeful. And still Robyn went on like this was an everyday occurance. “Get some clothes, other stuff to make this place look more homey… That sound good to you?” When her question was answered with silence she turned towards her. “Alice, does that sound good?” 

  Alice finally broke out of her trance and turned to look at her again. “Uh… Uh yeah, that- Whatever you wanna do that- It’s fine.” Alice stammered, fighting to keep her eyes on her face and not drift lower to where she really wanted to look, her face turning pink from the effort.

  God she was beautiful...

  Robyn cocked a brow in confusion, wondering what had suddenly gotten Alice all red and nervous. But only for a moment, when realization hit hard and she smirked at the curly haired blonde. The towel suddenly dropped an inch more and opened up a fraction wider, revealing more of the wet skin of her thigh.

  Totally by accident, of course.

  Alice caught the movement, her eyes glancing down for a second before she vigorously shook her head, trying to hide the movement. She then began stuttering about the fact that she needed to use the washroom for something or other, not quite saying what as she tried to slide passed her, still holding the chocolate donut in hand.

  “You do that,” Robyn said with an air of something Alice couldn’t quite name. All she could say was it definitely drove those butterflies inside her crazy beyond all recognition. “I’ll be out here drying off.” Robyn bit her lip, allowing her own eyes to wonder over Alice in a far less subtle way than how Alice had looked at her. “I’m kind of wet, as you might have been able to tell…”

  Robyn held back a laugh when Alice just stammered out something unintelligible and hurried into the bathroom, banging the door behind her. As she vanished inside, Robyn hoped that Alice didn’t notice the large thick beach towel that would have easily wrapped around Robyn twice as well as dropping past her knees. The same one that Robyn had been using before she quickly switched when she heard Alice walk in…

 

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